Two Dissertations and Editorial Prefaces (Prolegomena)

and they make progress equally. Tell me, therefore, what I should do: should I keep them for my own benefit and that of the brothers, or sell them and give to the poor? The elder replied: The actions are indeed fine, but poverty is better than everything. Having heard this, he went away and sold them, and gave the money to the poor. ^A

V.

APOPHTHEGMATA OF SAINT MACARIUS THE ALEXANDRIAN

On Abba Macarius the Citizen (Urbicus).

2. Abba Macarius visited Abba Pachomius of the Tabennesiotes. Pachomius asked him, saying: "When there are unruly brothers, is it good to discipline them?" Abba Macarius said to him: "Discipline and judge righteously those who are under you; but judge no one outside. For it is written: 'Do you not judge those who are within? But those who are outside God will judge.'" ^C

3. Abba Macarius once spent four whole months visiting a certain brother daily, and he never, not even once, found him at leisure from prayer. Wondering at this, he said: "Behold, a terrestrial angel!"

VARIOUS READINGS. * Alt. "failing" or "neglecting."

NOTES. (α) 1 Cor. v, 12, 13.

JO. SAL. SEMLER TWO DISSERTATIONS ON THE WRITINGS OF ST. MACARIUS THE EGYPTIAN. FIRST DISSERTATION. A specimen of a critical examination of the works which are attributed to Macarius, edited for the sake of good omen by J. S. S. of Halle, during the most joyful and festive days consecrated to Christ triumphantly returning from the dead. Halle, Magdeburg, typis Joannis Christiani Hendelii Acad. Typ. MDCCXLV (α).

[Page 3] To the most reverend, most ample, and most learned man, D. Gotth. August Francke, Senior of the Theological Faculty of Halle, his most highly revered patron. [Page 4.] To the most reverend, most ample, and most learned man, D. Sigism.

NOTES. (a) Consists of 24 pages in-4. It treats of Macarius up to page 21; then pages 21-24 deal with Tertullian’s Apo-

- logeticum. A short dissertation is added with this index: For lack of space, which deceived me, I produce a few observations on Tertullian’s Apologeticum. EDIT. (a) Correction: Semler falsely wrote Xma. Idem.

TO JACOB BAUMGARTEN, DIRECTOR OF THE THEOLOGICAL SEMINARY, HIS MOST REVEREND PATRON, THE AUTHOR OFFERS THIS LIGHT AND SLENDER WRITING AS A DOCUMENT OF HIS REVERENCE, WITH MANY AUSPICIOUS WISHES AND PRAYERS FOR THESE HOLY DAYS.

[Pag. 5] The words contained in the ^A Homily, commonly attributed to Macarius, 9th section, are beautiful, most reverend sirs; and they do not unjustly promise all manner of auspicious things to all true Christians in the month of Xanthicus, or April. For as it renews the nature of the sky, once cold and inimical, and makes it warmer and now pleasant, so the blessed remembrance of those things, which around this very time have redounded upon us all as a new life, as it were, through the Savior, cannot fail to suppress the sadness of the soul and bathe the mind in a certain divine joy. Whence I pray and beseech you, most reverend sirs, for the sake of your extraordinary benevolence, to interpret leniently the fact that I venture, according to the sentiments of my heart, to wish you well on this solemn season for the Christian world, and for this purpose I offer you this light writing. I myself understand well enough that it is so constituted that it can scarcely seem worthy of your venerable persons. Wherefore I also hesitated not a little whether I could appropriately inscribe it to your most eminent names. But I seemed to have recognized sufficiently in you, most reverend sirs, [Pag. 6] that virtue whereby you are accustomed, as much as you possibly can, to take all things most kindly in that part which is gentler. Why then, when I wish to render an account of my studies to you in these pages, should I not hope to enjoy the same benefit? Moreover, I have not even satisfied myself, but still find much to criticize. Yet this, albeit perhaps unique, did not seem to me to be entirely devoid of its own usefulness, as can now be understood: that if Macarius himself is diligently perused, he can be corrected in many things because all things occur twice or thrice, and thus the errors of the scribes can best be wiped away. If I find that this small moment of utility is not entirely disapproved by you, most reverend sirs, I shall seem to myself not to have spent this little labor uselessly. Farewell, and, unless I appear unworthy, continue to embrace me with your benevolence. Given at Halle, about the time of the holidays.

[Pag. 7] § I. The minor works that are circulated as Macarius's are not entirely unworthy of diligent reading, nor ^B perhaps of this examination as to whether they rightfully bear the name of Macarius and truly are his. And here I do not doubt that there will be many who wonder why I should be the one to doubt a matter about which it has scarcely ever occurred to anyone else to think. Indeed, I do not deny that I myself am somewhat timid. However, whatever the outcome may be, it will at least be some help that I, for my part, have resisted the error that I have suspected.

§ II. That I previously touched upon the fact that the authority of others, who suspected nothing of the sort, might perhaps stand in my way, I still maintain can in no way be counted as a fault to me. [Pag. 8] For in these studies I have long ago persuaded myself, through the authorities of many, that I should conduct myself in such a way that I would not believe anything rashly or without reasons. Nor can this examination of mine in any way detract from the name of great men. For there will be no one who can forbid me to wonder why no one else has raised this question. Unless someone, perhaps, might refer to Possinus, who in his ascetic Thesaurus gives thought to a third Macarius for the reason that no testimony of the ancients exists for either of those two. I shall have accomplished this task once I have finished, if I am able, that which I am now beginning.

§ III. And let us now see by what arguments those who attribute these works to Macarius, whoever he may be, wish or can have them credited. They certainly can have no others than two in total. The one of which is from ^C manuscript codices, the other sought from the writings and testimonies of the ancients. If, therefore, neither is stable and firm, I will not seem to doubt rashly. And this I assert.

For, first, as regards the MSS., to which it is no small testimony to appeal in these matters, many things will have to be examined. How ancient such codices are as declare Macarius the author I can scarcely state, because there is no or little knowledge of them in these lands, as is usually the case. But to maintain that they could be older than the 12th or 13th century I can scarcely believe, because, as we shall show later, almost no one before these times mentions these works under the name of Macarius. This argument, therefore, will certainly not have much strength. [Pag. 9] Moreover, although there may be many MSS., they can all have originated from one, and thus be of even less authority. Then, even if the authority of the MSS. were perfectly established, something would have to be granted them from that head alone, because they do not say anything contrary to reason. But in truth it can scarcely happen that an ascetic author, such as Macarius is, should be unknown to monks for 10 or more centuries, so that no one remembers him. Add that many have written such precepts that this study, ἀσκητικόν, has almost always flourished. Thus, by the same right, Cave, Hist. Lit. P. 1, denies that any minor work on the exit of the soul of the just and the impious is by Macarius, which, although the MS. bears the name of Macarius, is nevertheless discordant and unsuitable in its method of treatment. And indeed, if it is permissible to indulge in conjectures, I do not doubt that all our Macarian minor works were born and patched together in the same time as that one.

^A

§ IIII.

The manuscripts, therefore, as we have seen, unless authority is added from elsewhere, are worth nothing. Let us now see another argument: whether any such thing exists in the writings of the ancients. To be sure, I believe and judge that I think correctly in writing that it was known to no one among the ancients that Macarius had left these things behind. Thus, all who have recorded matters concerning ecclesiastical writers are silent, by certain intent, regarding Macarius and these Opuscula of his. And I shall set forth these authors one by one in order, proportionate to the magnitude of each one's authority. [Pag. 10] The procession of all is led by Jerome. This man, as is known among all, was not engaged in this subject with ordinary diligence, and he left behind [records of] the lives of ancient illustrious men of the Christian republic, and especially their writings. But this same Jerome neither knows that Macarius had written anything, and therefore omits him from that roll. And this argument is all the graver in that Jerome’s age not only followed the times of Macarius by no long interval, but he himself saw the dwelling-place of Macarius with his own eyes, as he himself testifies among his opuscula *on the Lives of the Fathers*. The Macarii were already dead, and those who had survived them taught Jerome much about their life and deeds, but they are silent concerning their writings. If, therefore, these men—who collected everything that seemed to pertain to the praise of the Macarii—know none of his writings, those who lived much later can know them even less. But they also certainly do not know them, because they are likewise silent. For Gennadius now follows Jerome, about to bear witness that he himself knew nothing at all of these [writings] of Macarius in his own time. Nor let anyone object that he places Macarius among the ecclesiastical writers. For that is of no help here. Let us examine Gennadius' own words about Macarius. ^B

§ V.

*Macarius, that Egyptian monk, famous for signs and virtues, wrote only one epistle to those younger in his profession, in which he teaches* [Pag. 11] *that he can perfectly serve God who, recognizing the condition of his own creation, has inclined himself to all labors, and by struggling and by exploring through the assistance of God against everything that is sweet in this life, [and] also arriving at natural purity, has obtained abstinence as if it were a debt-duty of nature.*

Here, as we see, he mentions a certain writing by Macarius, but he calls it an epistle, and only one at that. And thus he had neither heard nor seen Homilies or other Opuscula. It comes to mind what Cave writes in his *Historia Literaria*, Vol. 1, against Possinus, regarding Macarius—who for the same reason had erased a third Macarius, because Gennadius was silent about the Egyptian. Cave replies, I say, as follows: "What if Gennadius speaks only of Macarius' epistles? What if Macarius wrote other things that escaped the diligence of Gennadius, since there are not a few writings that in vain ^C [288 A] might be sought in Gennadius?" Thus Cave. Which things might also be against me, were I not turning them aside. Which I can easily do. For I am astonished that a man most learned in this field wrote these things. He thinks Gennadius is speaking only of the epistles. But that is not credible, because he was about to produce an index of the better authors and writers. Macarius at that time was most well-known; for that reason he says, *he, the Egyptian*. And when he makes mention of him, he surely would not have named a lesser portion of his writings, but the greater and better. And if they had been ours at that time, they would have been most trite, because they are ascetic. Since, therefore, Gennadius is silent, it is the same as if he were to say that Macarius did not write these things. Further, Gennadius openly says: *He wrote one epistle only*, i.e., nothing else beyond that. Nor could these things have escaped his eyes or diligence for that same reason, because they constitute a greater work than an epistle, and would have been known above all others. Moreover, even this epistle which Gennadius gives to Macarius seems to me scarcely to be truly from him, because Jerome makes no mention [of it]; and had it existed, he would have undoubtedly seen it in that desert domicile of the monks over whom Macarius presided. To these I further add Rufinus, who in Book 10, chap. 8, deals with the Macariis, but is silent on the writings; [and] Honorius of Autun, who indeed gathered the greater part from Gennadius and others, but because he is silent, he is to be believed to have known nothing more. But I have omitted Palladius, who should have been commemorated in the first place after Jerome, had it not seemed to me that these ought to be joined together. He went to that same place of solitude in the year after the death of Macarius, and yet he mentions none of these writings in the *Lausiac History*, although he praises the outstanding deeds of Macarius. I have also omitted John Cassian, who, writing about monastic institutions, brings forward many celebrated sayings of Macarius but is ignorant of these Opuscula of his, which, however, would have properly pertained to his own genre of writing, had they existed. Indeed—and this I add further—Suidas is also silent. For he does not mention any of his writings in the life of Macarius, but rather certain things of Evagrius, his disciple. One alone remains, but he is from among the more recent, John Trithemius, who places Macarius among the [ecclesiastical] writers [Pag. 13] ^D but nonetheless commemorates none of his writings. As far as Symeon Logothetes is concerned, whom Cave warns to have illustrated 170 ascetic chapters with a paraphrase, let this suffice: that because he is either of uncertain [date], or certainly from the 12th century at the latest, he can little defend these writings. If that book should ever be at hand, we shall perhaps note more. It is therefore certain that the Macariana were not known before the 12th century.

§ VI.

The opinion widely held concerning the writings of Macarius is therefore, I believe, sufficiently stripped of its own reasons. But I do not rely on these arguments alone when I doubt these Opuscula. I shall add yet another, which is so far from yielding to those that I believe it carries greater weight by its own gravity. Namely, the entire method of writing by which these were finished

^A are little books, and I contend that they are alien, not only to Macarius, but to any other author. For to whom does it seem probable that any writer would repeat and foist upon us the same words and the same sentiments twice or thrice, within a small bulk of writings, as if they were complete and distinct little works? Yet we shall show that these are indeed in the writings of Macarius, in such a way, however, that we may at the same time remark upon a few other things which will seem to pertain to the variant scripture and reading.

§ VII.

By way of example, we shall set down those things which we noted from chapter 13 of the little work *On the Custody of the Heart*, p. 22 of the Pritiana edition [Pag. 14]. From that material, an entire Homily has been composed, using the same words and sentiments, namely the XIX, p. 287. To this I would add, finally, the little work *On the Freedom of the Mind*, cap. 18, and the first Apophthegm, p. 231.

In the *Little Work on the Custody of the Heart*, p. 22, we have: “He who wishes to approach the Lord, and to be made worthy of eternal life, and to become a dwelling-place of God, and to be made worthy of the Holy Spirit, in order that he may be able to perform His fruits according to the commandments of the Lord blamelessly and purely, thus ought to begin.” ^B This is the first period of the first little work (a). And the same words are similarly found in the first period of the Homily, except that for “of God” one reads “of Christ” (b), for “to be made worthy,” “to be fulfilled,” which has indeed happened; by that same word it would immediately occur. For “His fruits,” we read “fruits of the Spirit,” where what that itself is, is expressed; for “according to the commandments of the Lord,” we read “and the commandments of Christ.” And “blamelessly and purely” [is written as] “purely and blamelessly,” [showing] a slight change; and for “to perform,” [we find] “to have performed,” not badly, because this tense is often followed; for “so,” [we find] “this man,” [written] “so”; for “to begin,” [we find] “to be about to begin,” or “to begin,” which is better [as] “to begin.” The second period differs by a slight change.

In the *Little Work on the Custody of the Heart* there follows: “and to persevere always in prayer; and not to despair, [while] expecting the visitation and help of the Lord always, keeping the aim of his mind upon this at all times.” In the Homily, it is somewhat different: [Pag. 15] and that, indeed, rightly; for it ought to be expressed, which I would prefer, or to be understood. But further, it reads thus: “in faith of the expectation of the visitation and help of the Lord, always awaiting [it], keeping the aim of his mind upon this at all times.” Which things teach that in the common editions of this little work it is wrongly supposed that “expecting” [is there] and “keeping,” since the series of the discourse manifestly requires the fourth case. These things, regarding not despairing, are not conveniently here, and in the *Little Work on the Freedom of the Mind*, cap. 16 and 17, there is a better connection, as if they were gathered from elsewhere.

But as for the variety of the scripture of the words brought forward, it can be seen that these might have been joined: ^C etc., or were easily added by someone. For I do not doubt—which will appear better from the following—that those who gathered these from various other sources were different. But those things which are there do not much please: “For it is not easy to know what these mean.” And since not much later it follows: [it] is nearly “parum abest” that I might read: “For one may clearly understand that all things among themselves, if you look to the substance itself, are confused.” And this very thing, so that one may look toward Christ, is advised by the *Little Work on the Freedom of the Mind*, cap. 16 and 17, from which I scarcely doubt these were excerpted. Nor is there any reason why one should for that reason doubt this conjecture, because this scripture may be the same in the Homily. For we shall see that one or the other was born and made later, [Pag. 16] and had accepted such a corrupt or good scripture of the other.

Further, there follows in *On the Custody*: “It is required always to struggle toward every good, and toward all the commandments of the Lord, even if the heart is not willing due to sin dwelling within it.” In the Homily it is omitted, nor is it badly done; but “a good work” is added, nor is it badly done; it is also omitted “not well.” In the *Little Work on the Freedom of the Mind*, cap. 13, that is added which we shall shortly see in more detail.

In the first little work it proceeds thus: “Such as to struggle with oneself toward being humble-minded before all men, and to consider oneself lower and worse than all, not seeking honor or praise or glory from anyone, as is written in the Gospel.” In the Homily, for “to struggle” [is written] “let him struggle,” not badly, because the imperative is often followed, and perhaps it should be replaced everywhere. There follows: “not seeking honor,” etc., which cannot stand with “to struggle” [it is required], but should have been the fourth case. Omitting things which do not much differ, for “from anyone” it is “glory from men from anyone,” which I think should be inverted: “glory from men.”

Further, in the *Little Work* it is: “but only to have the Lord always before [his] eyes, and His commandments, wishing to please Him alone.” In the Homily, for “to have” [it is] “having,” and that rightly. For there must be supplied “to struggle,” etc. The rest differ but little.

Further, *On the Custody*: “similarly let him struggle toward meekness, and even if the heart is not willing, as the Lord says: ‘Learn from me’ toward the meekness of the heart.” The Homily adds “toward the meekness of the heart,” and omits “to struggle,” which I think is a gloss from the preceding. ^D

^A It is repeated. For it teaches that it was absent, because the sign of connection does not intervene, but it is joined as if in a continuous discourse. Moreover in the *Custodia*: etc. In the Homily, for the infinitive, it is better [to read] *omitted*, which I would not wish to have done. etc., for which [there is] a fuller version in the Homily, etc.; and indeed more correctly, as the *Opusculum on Liberty* c. 18 teaches: Now the scripture in the Homily and the *Opusculum* differs somewhat, where we should conclude [this], we shall explain from the scripture of the *Opusculum on Liberty*. Which is such: [for which read in the fourth case, namely, i.e., as it exists in the Homily: To wait for his mercy at all times with unwavering faith, and to force oneself to have pity, etc., and to force oneself toward love, not having love; to force oneself toward love, not having the love. To constrain...] to bear insult and neglect and to persevere with those who are despised, those of us who are despised, in order that... not to be resentful of one who is despised or insulted. What follows does not differ much, except that in the Homily I would wish to read for the common text: as if he had a standard before his eyes in all his unforgetful memory, then the Lord seeing... how he forces himself always into his memory, [namely] of Christ. And with all his power let him persevere in prayers, always praying and believing. Let him force himself, let him persevere. And thus what he now does with force and with an unwilling heart, he accustoms himself at all times to what is good, and always to remember the Lord, and to wait for him at all times in great goodness and love. Not willing... of the heart he does, he will do eventually *willingly*, accustoming himself involuntarily and with an unwilling heart, *willingly*: so that he bears fruit purely, then he bears fruit purely. But it is necessary first... thus to force also himself, to force himself, and to force [himself] first, having approached. For he is violent, he says... to struggle again for him to enter through the narrow gate, and again [it is written]: to struggle.

^B He forces himself [also] toward prayer, not yet having the prayer of the Spirit. Those not yet having attained this state toward prayer, not yet having possessed the prayer of the Spirit, for which we must read [namely, to constrain]... not yet having attained this state, and not yet... and not to measure, for the sake of not... and the not passing judgment, and for the sake of not... and to bear, if both to cast away, [the] violent possess the kingdom.

^C Furthermore in the same place, things that change almost nothing are omitted: In the Homily for... is..., which also must be read in the *Opusculum*. For... does not please me, because the scribes did this, so that a construction would seem [to exist], which however is none. I would prefer, however, to read the rest [as follows] because it follows, and certainly I believe it to have been so. Moreover, in the same *Opusculum* I omit not a few things, because this specimen ought to be brief—p. 26: for which from the Homily p. [290] one must write *then he bears fruit purely*. In the same place: for which in the Homily § exists. [Pag. 18] It pleases [me], because [being] separated seems to have produced diversity. Now indeed these... etc. occur a third time in the *Opusculum on the Liberty of the Mind* chap. 18. For there all things from the beginning agree with the scripture of the Homily, unless this has [them] better: what follows in the same *Opusculum on Liberty*: etc., correctly they occupy this place; in the Homily indeed and in the *Opusculum* they do not exist in the best place. Corrupt indeed are those which presently follow in the *Opusculum on Liberty*. For commonly they are thus: which also deceived the Latin translator. But certainly it must be read: etc., as it exists almost in *de Custodia* p. 24. I omit judging regarding those things which have been inserted in the Homily and *Opusculum* I, and I proceed to p. 26 of this...

^D § VIII. But that I may now arrive at that, for the sake of which I wrote these things, I shall omit the series of the discourse in Macarius, and I shall show that it is probable that these things were all not written by Macarius, but were only celebrated in discourse, from others thereafter such apophthegms were collected and augmented, and at length were digested into these works. Pritius appended to his edition certain Apophthegms of Macarius, the first of which exists on p. 231, which if anyone reads, and reads afterward those of which we have written, he will find the same thing in reality to be different in words and in sentiments. In that very scripture, however, I would prefer for etc., similarly for etc., and... for... Therefore, that different people in different places collected these special sayings of the man, but others arranged them in another order, thence it comes about that these *Opuscula* were born, and many or almost all things occur twice and thrice.

§ IX. But I must see entirely to it, lest this cease to be a specimen. Let it suffice to have shown all the words so to be repeated, that they scarcely differ by a light transposition or a few letters. Otherwise I would dare to promise that I shall show at another time, perhaps, that scarce the smallest part is said only once, but that almost all things occur twice, many three times. [Pag. 20] I shall touch briefly here upon things which ought to be explained more fully at some other time. First, that all those are badly composed, so that, when there is some *Opusculum on Prayer*, many things are in it which belonged to another, and in others more things which belonged to it. Then, especially in the Homilies, the discourse is not only interrupted by question-

-^A-ings, but those very things are sufficiently disorganized, and the responses are not rarely inept, so that it appears they are not genuine responses, and could not have originated from the first author. I do not wish to dwell long on these. Let him read, if he wishes, what is in Homily VII at the end of § 4, and let him add the 10th chapter of the Opusculum on Charity at the end. Then let him join § 5 of this same Homily and chapter 12 of that Opusculum, where an entire chapter is inserted, which is absent from the Homily. Moreover, the deception is revealed most of all by the excellent response in § 6 of the same Homily. The question was, "In what degrees of perfection are you?" and it is answered: "After the sign of the cross, now grace so acts, and quiets all the members and the heart, that the soul, out of great joy, appears as an innocent child, and no longer condemns Greek or Jew." How absurdly these hold together, it is not necessary to say. Let chapter 12 of the Opusculum on Charity be joined to it.

§ X.

In the last place I will add this as well, which is my opinion—that I do not know what is meant by "it occurs," which often appears. I always believe such a thing to be that of someone narrating something about another, not someone writing his own work. Yet chapter 10, chapter 9, and chapter 8 "on Charity" exist. Chapter 9 is also written thus: "To one asking whether ^B a man can always remain in that state, it must be answered thus," etc. In the eighth Homily, § 2, there is both a question and a response, with the words "it must be answered thus" omitted. It easily appears that some saying and a later remembered response of Macarius to one asking such a thing was converted into this rule. I could say more. But concerning these and other matters—whence and when these works of Macarius seem to have been patched together—if God wills, and if these things have not been displeasing, we shall explain more fully ^C at some time.

SECOND DISSERTATION

A specimen of critical observations on some Greek Opuscula of Macarius, published for the birthday of the most reverend, most excellent, and most learned man, Sigismund Jakob Baumgarten, Doctor and Public Ordinary Professor of Sacred Theology, Director of the Theological Seminary, a patron and preceptor most worthy of being honored, with good omens by Jo. Sal. Semler, of Salfeld, Thuringia. Halle, printed by Johann Christian Hendel, 1746. [a]

[Pag. 3] Most reverend, most excellent, most learned man, most benevolent patron and protector.

In the common joy of this Academy, with which this notable day suffuses all the ranks of the Muses, it is fitting that I too should dedicate to this solemn light my joy and my prayers through highest piety. For this task seems to pertain to me most of all, in whom so many and such great benefits of yours and proofs of extraordinary benevolence exist, so that the one whom your authority as a preceptor had made a venerable man, the [Pag. 4] benevolence of a patron has now rendered so much his own, that I would diligently deny that anyone is superior to me in duties toward you. Nor indeed, although the chief part of it is mine, is this piety mine alone; all good men, as they rejoice in this your day, so pray for its happy return with the best wishes and prayers. In these truly offered prayers we trust as much that God will answer, as we certainly know that by the singular benefit of God you have appeared in this light for the most abundant benefit of many. For the rest, I desire that you, most reverend man, be a lenient interpreter of this light writing, which is both very brief, because I know that leisure is almost entirely lacking to your tasks, let alone to these youthful matters, and very light, because the joy of this day did not seem able to endure more severe gravity. But you, most reverend man, please keep your favor and benevolence toward me. Farewell. March 13, happily. 1746.

[Pag. 5] Since, as far as I know, no special care has yet been undertaken for the Works of Macarius, and yet they have endured the same fate as other ancient writers, to whom both the ignorance of readers and the injury of time have done much harm, I shall show very briefly through some Macarian Opuscula that they still await a better care of the text. Where, having omitted both typographical errors and those of translation, I shall proceed to remove some better scriptural mistakes, which I annotated while reading. I used the edition of Pritius. Now ^D

Toward the FIRST OPUSCULUM, which is *On the Custody of the Heart*, I annotate these things:

CAP. I: "For the abstention from evils is not the purification, but the perfect purification according to conscience," for the abstention from greater vices is not purity, but the perfect cleaning of the conscience. The meaning is a little inconvenient. For in Opusculum VI, *On the Elevation [Pag. 6] of the Mind*, chapter 20 at the end, it is held otherwise: "For indeed, not the [abstention] from visible evils..."

NOTES.

(a) It consists of 20 pages in quarto. Ed.

^A Since the construction depends on it, the Latin version errs, as it is sometimes quite poor.

Dissertation II

Chapter IX, after the middle: "Fasting is good, as are vigil and pilgrimage; but these are the peak of a good way of life; nevertheless, the order of Christians is..." But these are themselves the flower and vigor of a good way of life. The Latin version is as follows: *Sed haec flos ipse ac vigor sunt conversationis bonae*. What is this sense? If there is something paramount in some matter, why is it valued so little? In *Opusculum* VI, ch. 30, it is held: "Fasting is good... and these are the preludes to a way of life pleasing to God; but it is foolish to simply rely on such things." These have been rendered: *Haec prooemia sunt conversationis Deum amantium* ("these are the preludes of the way of life of those who love God"), which is not an inconvenient sense, though it does not fit here. Read: "Such are also the practices of a way of life pleasing to God." And so, in *Opusculum* I, I would prefer to read: "And other such things, which are of a good way of life; but the dignity of Christians is higher." However, "order" (*taxis*) can be tolerated, though its meaning is more rare.

Chapter X: "Let no one think he has attained something, and consider himself to be someone, and begin to teach." What he means by "teach," I do not find, since the subsequent text speaks of a further thirst for grace. Additionally, in *Opusculum* VI, ch. 30, at the end, it is written: "Do not think you have attained, nor have it in excess." Hence, perhaps for "to teach" (*didaskein*), one should read "to suffice" (*diarkein*), which was accepted by eyes too swift [to read] *celerantibus nimis oculis*. Shortly after: "to have labor, thirst," for which in *Opusculum* VI: "but to hunger then and to thirst." Hence "labor" (*ponon*) is not strictly correct. I would read "hunger" (*peinan*), if it were not a slightly more insolent word. Perhaps it was: "to hunger then and to thirst." In the same place there follows: "And he has an only begotten son and instructs him." I do not know what the relevance to love and the increase of mourning is if a mother has chastised her son. Rather, as these same things occur in Homily XVI ^B § 11, and instead of these words it is read there, I rewrite: "and [a child] most fair of face, and a child most fair of face, and with a countenance most honest and most beautiful." For if he dies here, it causes much mourning, because [he is of] such excellent form, and [he was] not only an only child.

Chapter XI: "Let them not think that they have entered into the rest, as if they were still at the threshold and entering the courtyards." In *Opusculum* VI, ch. 31: "Let them not think they have already stepped to the end and the rest; from whence? For they still linger about the threshold and the courtyards." Hence, perhaps in *Opusculum* [I] one should read: "How so? For [they are] still at..." otherwise the Greek is weak. It follows in *Opusculum* I: "But if one should also become a partaker of grace, [let him not] think that he has grasped [it]." In *Opusculum* VI: "Even if they were deemed worthy of some spiritual grace; let not this again deceive them." I, do not think, one ought not to examine each thing, if he has found the treasure in the earthen vessel.

^A And though not entirely without sense, nevertheless, in Homily and Opusculum VII, the infinitive *biazesthai kai anchein* must be restored. In the same place, for "according to what is written," which is also read this way in the Homily, it seems "according to what is said" should be restored, because in the whole of the New Testament no such thing exists, and in Opusculum VII we read "to the things said," from which, I believe, we have provided grounds for our conjecture. Finally, [there is the passage] "For the rest, since the Lord coming, coming and being in him." Either the second "coming" must be removed, or one should read "the Lord according to the promise, and being," etc., as it exists in Opusculum VII; and the corruption here is easily corrected.

^B Chapter XII post medium: "Since therefore [Pag. 10] the contrary power is hortatory, not compulsory, and divine grace is hortatory." I suggest, for the sake of better connection: "Since therefore, as the contrary power, so is divine grace hortatory, because of the free will and simplicity of the nature, the rest if," etc. Thus, everything holds together. For "simplicity" (*liton*), I would prefer "self-causing" (*autaition*), which is almost the same as "free will" (*autexousion*), noting the liberty of arbitrating and deciding. For which in Opusculum VI, chap. 3, there is "free and endowed with free will." The Greek letters A and A are similar; hence the error, aided by a compendium of writing. And similarly, it seems an error occurred a little later in the same Opusculum I: "Since to himself did man become the cause of the good; for of this nature is he." For which I think one should read: "For of free will is this nature." For the vulgate reading is obscure in sense. And the former words are not to be taken rashly, lest they seem to pelagianize too little.

Chapter XIII a little after the beginning, for "if he loses grace, if he receives and falls," read: "which he received, and falls; if," etc. And a little later: "Those therefore desiring from truth to please God must also do violence first to themselves": ^C delete *kai* before *biazesthai*, and place a colon there, and for "himself" [Pag. 12] read "themselves"; for it pertains to "desiring." It follows later: "A great elevation is humility; and preciousness and dignity is true humility." For which in the cited Homily [Hom. XIX § 8] it is read: "A great humiliation is loftiness; and great elevation and preciousness and dignity is true humility": similarly it exists in Opusculum VII cap. 19. And this seems better. And at the end, furthermore, it is read: "And thus the commandments of the Lord having been fulfilled upon us." For which one should read "by us," as also exists in the Homily. These things briefly regarding the first Opusculum.

TO THE SECOND OPUSCULO, On perfection in the Spirit, I have a few and likewise light things to put forward.

Chapter V is read commonly and punctuated: "For the Scripture knows, it says, these hidden sins of the soul to be placed on a par with the external," from the vulgar version likewise so punctuated: "For the Lord, the Scripture says, knows these hidden sins of the soul to be placed on a par with external ones." Where "Lord" is very badly cut off from the following and dragged here, because otherwise the subject was lacking in the thought. But [this is] wrong. The word "it says" does not pertain to "Scripture" at all, but is that solemn formula in these Opuscula, by which the scribe or collector of these Macarian writings indicates that Macarius celebrated this or that in his discourse. Punctuate therefore thus: "For it knows, says [Macarius], the Scripture, these hidden... to be placed," for "the Scripture knows these hidden vices of the soul to be placed in the same value as those external ones." The following things teach that this is the true sense, where several verses of Scripture are linked [Pag. 13] pronouncing on such hidden vices. Immediately after these follows a likewise corrupted place: "And of those speaking peace with their neighbors, and so on; and again: For it is in the heart to work iniquities in the land." Where first the sense is not expressed, which is in the Psalm, namely, that those who have something else in their breast than what they have on the tongue are signally punished by God, as others who are openly sinners. Then it is produced as almost another place: "to work iniquities in the heart in the land," which the Latin version also expresses thus, since

such a saying is not found, and even if it were found, it would not pertain to the matter under discussion. ^A Hence, those words that exist in Ps. XXVII, 3, "Draw not away my soul with sinners, and destroy me not with those who work iniquity, with those who speak," should be placed back, but the words "in the heart in the land" should be deleted. For "iniquity" or "to work iniquity" was a variant reading for "iniquity" in the Psalm, and the rest is corrupted from elsewhere, for the most part by a fault of memory, where someone else filled in the cited passages differently. For the whole passage was not placed, but only the first words, and a sign of an abrupt sentence, etc. Soon there follows: "since," for which it seems better to read "how," etc., you shall say. For "since" lacks a connection, which it nevertheless pretends to have.

CAP. XI: "which [commandment, not love, as the interpreter supplies]..." Read "for this word was absorbed by the final syllables of divine [aid]."

AD TERTIUM OPUSCULUM, On Prayer, I offer these few things. CAP. V: "If humility and love, simplicity and goodness do not cause [the prayer]... to cleave to us..." unless they conglutinate prayer to us; the sense is not optimal. One should read "adorn," as in Opusculum I, cap. 9: "If humility and simplicity and goodness do not compose us." Where for "us" add "to us the prayer," as the sense necessitated and the collation with this Opusculum III requires. And they are in the same sense. And at the end of this chapter V, place a question mark; in the common editions there is a full stop, which hinders the sense.

CAP. IX: At the end, for [the citation] read from II Cor. VIII and Exod. XVI: "he who had much did not have too much, and he who had little did not have too little."

CAP. X: After the beginning: "and in prayer [be not] slothful..." Read for better connection "for indeed" or "for."

I proceed to CAP. XIII, having omitted many typographical errors: "those who consider it impossible... the Apostle clearly shows that they are like those who, on account of unbelief, were not deemed worthy to enter the land of promise, and for this reason their limbs fell in the desert." Is the Greek phrase a solecism? ^B It certainly seems so, unless it is explained conveniently. The Latin version neglected these Greek words for this reason alone, and placed the translation of the common interpreter. You should translate it thus: he explicitly calls them like those who were forbidden from the promised land on account of unbelief, their limbs having fallen—or because of this, i.e., because they did not believe—of their own bodies and cadavers in the desert.

I say, therefore, these things must be rendered in Greek. All things would be clearer if *kai* (and) were absent, and one read only "on account of this." In the same chapter, shortly after these things: 15 "But to depart is not to deny, but he put it as 'to disbelieve His promises';" he does not ignore even the typical things of the Jews, allegorizing. Regarding which, what it might be, I cannot interpret. I think one should read in its place "he has put... promises and the typical things of the Jews, allegorizing," etc.

OPUSCULUM IV, On Patience and Discretion

^A As that had been interpreted through the art of the devil by Simon. Here is the end of the gospel, following the added doxology. All these, and many things prior to these, are absent from the common gospel in Fabricius. If time permits, I promise to collate this manuscript with the edition [p. 17] and provide my own efforts, such as they are.

I return now to Macarius.

Chapter IIII. *«Καθαπερεί τεκμηράμενον τὴν τῆς ἑαυτοῦ βασιλείας καθαίρεσιν»*: for which it seems one should read *«τεκμαιρόμενον»* or *«τεκμηριούμενον»*, from *«τεκμαίρομαι»* or *«τεκμηριόω»*. I do not interpret what this common reading means. In the same chapter still: *«ἐπὶ δὲ τοῦ Κυρίου πρὸς ἀλήθειαν τοῦτο παθεῖν»*, which the interpreter renders "by the Lord," which he would have rendered better as "when the Lord comes." For it is most well known that *«ἐπὶ»* in these cases denotes time.

^B Chapter VIII. The version is likewise in error: *«καὶ γὰρ ὁ τοιοῦτος, ἐν λεπτότητι διὰ τῆς πίστεώς φημι, καὶ τῆς προθυμίας, ἤδη κοινωνεῖ τῷ Θεῷ.»* The Latin has: *Et enim talis (in tenuitate mea per fidem et confidentiam aio) talis inquam jam Deo communicat*; as if these were the author’s words concerning himself. But this is less correct. It should be translated: "in small measure, that is, in a certain way, such a one already *«κοινωνεῖ τῷ Θεῷ»* (shares with God) by reason of faith and desire or a ready mind." The author intends for this disposition of the believing soul, by which it longs for union with God, to already be a certain *«κοινωνία»* (sharing), or, as he says immediately below, such as *«καθάπερ ἤδη κοινωνεῖ τῷ Θεῷ»* (just as even now he shares with God). This he demonstrates by the example of Matthew 5, 28, where the desire of adultery is reckoned by God as adultery itself. And this is an elegant testimony of antiquity concerning the nature of faith.

The sentence in Chapter XI is read falsely: *«καὶ γὰρ.... ἡ διὰ τοῦ πνεύματος ἁγίου γέννησις εἰκόνα τελειότητος ἔχει ἔν τε τῇ μορφῇ καὶ τοῖς μέλεσιν· οὐ μέντοι δυνάμει, ἢ νῷ, ἢ ἀνδρείᾳ»* (not however in power, or mind, or courage). One should read: *«...μέλεσιν, ἢ ἐν τῇ δυνάμει»* etc.

There appears to be a similar fault in Chapter XXIII in the words: *«δι᾽ ἑνὸς δὲ ὑποδείγματος γνώρισμα [p. 18] ἔσται τῷ μετὰ χεῖρας»*, where the Greek is weak. Read: *«...γνωρίσομεν ταῦτα, ὅ ἐστι μετὰ χεῖρας.»*

In Chapter XXV, the reading is likewise erroneous: *«τὸ γὰρ ἔκδοτον ἑαυτὸν παρασχεῖν τῷ φίλων αὐτῷ φαίνεται, ἕτερος ὁμιλίας ἐς οὐδὲν δέον.»* This the interpreter filled out as: *nam impendere se ipsum amicis vindicandis laus ipsi videtur; alii jucundae sunt confabulationes facetae de nugis scurrilibus*. The Greek cannot sustain this meaning. I would attempt to restore it: *«ὁ ἕτερος ἔκδοτον ἑαυτὸν παρασχὼν τῶν φίλων αὐτῷ, φαίνεται ἑτέρας ὁμιλίας ἐς οὐδὲν δεόμενος»*, so that the author understands *«ἑτέραν ὁμιλίαν»* (another conversation/fellowship) as communion with God, of which this friendship with other wicked men might be an impediment.

Nor are there lacking puzzles of scripture in Chapter XXVI: ^C *«ὡς τοῦ ἐμπρησμοῦ ᾔσθετο, γυμνὸς ἐκπέφευγε, πάντων ἀμελήσας, καὶ τῆς ἑαυτοῦ μόνης ψυχῆς γενόμενος.»* Where *«γενόμενος»* is without sense. Unless something has fallen out, read *«ἡγουμένης»* [*da ihm sein Leben über alles ging*].

Opusculum V, On the Elevation of the Mind

Chapter I. Here at the very beginning of the chapter there is a slight error in the Greek that the interpreter did not observe: *«ὑμεῖς γὰρ, φησὶν, . . . κατοπτριζόμεθα»* etc. These are words drawn from the second Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians, c. III, 18. Where the interpreter, through a negligence that can scarcely be forgiven, rendered it: *Vos... speculantes*, when, as much from the clear *«συναφείᾳ»* (connection) as from the cited passage, he should have known that one must read *«ἡμεῖς»* (we).

I omit certain things, and in Chapter VIII: *«οὕτω φησὶ καὶ ἑκάστῳ τῶν ἱερέων καὶ ἁγίων ὁ Θεὸς ὤφθη»*, I write: *«τῶν πατέρων καὶ ἁγίων»*. For we read nothing of the sort concerning priests, and those who follow are not priests. Lest anyone doubt, he also reads in Homily IV § 13 *«τῶν ἁγίων πατέρων»*. In the same place, Daniel is listed between Noah and Moses, for which one should read Samuel (*«Σαμουήλ»*); for Daniel pertains to the prophets, of whom he says immediately: *«καὶ ἑκάστῳ τῶν προφητῶν»*.

At the end of Chapter IX, there is likewise a fault: *«σχολῇ γ' ἂν οἱ ἐκείνῳ τῷ ἀπαθεῖ βληθέντες, ἔρωτί τινι τῶν τοῦ κόσμου καθεκτοὶ γένοιντο.»* Where the interpreter struggles poorly: *An segne otium erit desiderio perturbationis omnis immuni permissis amorem aliquem mundi non cohibendi?* I read: *«ὅσῳ μᾶλλον οἱ ἐκείνῳ τῷ πόθῳ βληθέντες ἔρωτί τε, τῶν τοῦ»* etc. The connection thus persuades.

Immediately from the beginning of Chapter XIII, there is a fault of two letters: *«εἰ τὸ σύνθετον ἐκεῖνο ἔλαιον τοσαύτην ἔχει τὴν δύναμιν, ὡς τοὺς χρησαμένους αὐτῷ.»* Read *«χριομένους»* from Homily LVII, where all these occur. In the same chapter occurs the rarer word *«τρανός»*: *«τρανοῖς καὶ ἀνεπικαλύτοις ὀφθαλμοῖς.»* For which there is a good gloss in the Homily, *«καθαροῖς»*, a signification not found even among ancient lexicographers. Hesychius says *«τρανός»* [means] clear, true. Cyril’s Onomasticon [says] *«τρανῶς»*, expressly. This word is declared quite elegantly by *«καθαρός»* and *«ἀνεπικώλυτος»*.

Opusculum VI, On Charity

The first Chapter reveals a lacuna, whence Pritius or the interpreter notes in the margin, "the place seems corrupt." It stands thus: *«ἀλλ' ἐν τῇ τοῦ σταυροῦ δυνάμει τούτοις ἐνεργούμενος ἐν ὑποστάσῃ τοῖς καταξιωθεῖσι ταύτην κτήσασθαι.»* It seemed to me, therefore, to restore it: *«...δυνάμει· οὕτως ἐνεργούμενός ἐστιν ὁ περὶ σταυροῦ λόγος τοῖς καταξιωθεῖσι ταύτην [σοφίαν] κτήσασθαι, ἢ ἐν τοῖς καταξιωθεῖσι, vel δύναμιν.»* The corruption came from compendia of writing.

Chapter III from the beginning: *«οὕτω διακορὴς γίνεται, μᾶλλον τῆς ἐπιθυμίας.»* It seems *«γίνεται δὲ μᾶλλον»* has fallen out, so that *«γίνεται»* occurs twice.

Chapter V: the word *«μυχοί»* occurs, in which Hesychius is faulty: *«μυχοί, αἱ καταδύσεις, οἱ ἐνδότατοι καὶ ἀπόκρυφοι τόποι, λιμένες, κοιλότητες, ἔσχατα καὶ τὰ»*

^A poems, or the inner parts. The poems are most humble. ^B Cap. X: Those wonderful things were shown; for indeed, what was shown, [was shown]. And so these things are these things.

HOMILIES OF SAINT MACARIUS THE EGYPTIAN

EDITIO PRINCEPS

The title is: Of the holy father Macarius the Egyptian, fifty homilies. From the Royal Library. Paris, 1559. By Guillaume Morel, the Royal Printer in Greek. With royal privilege. 12mo.

In place of a preface, it bears the testimony of Suidas:

FROM THE SUIDAS.

MACARIUS. There were two Macariuses, homonymous and renowned for their asceticism, for their life, for their character, for their learning. The one, the Egyptian, was a miracle-worker, and along with his piety he was severe towards those who encountered him. The other, the Alexandrian, was in all respects similar to the Egyptian, yet cheerful; he was so cheerful to those who encountered him, and by his wit he led young men toward asceticism. Evagrius, having become a disciple of these men, acquired the philosophy of practice, having previously been a philosopher in words alone. He was appointed to the rank of deacon in Constantinople by Gregory the Theologian. But having also traveled down to Egypt and encountering the aforementioned men, he emulated their life. Very important books were written by him, of which the "Monk," or "On the Active Life," is inscribed; and the "Gnostic," or "On those deemed worthy of knowledge." His chapters are fifty in number. There is also the "Refutatory" against the demons who tempt us, divided into eight parts, according to the number of the eight thoughts. And there are six hundred prognostic problems. Also two books of "Stichera," one for monks living in monasteries or congregations, and one for virginity. And he says verbatim as follows: "It is necessary to inquire rightly into the ways of those monks who have progressed, and to be corrected by them; for many are the things rightly said and done by them. Among which one also said this: that a drier and more irregular diet, joined with love, leads the monk more quickly to apatheia."

[The homilies follow in Greek, pages 1-567. At the end of the book it reads: Printed by Guillaume Morel, Royal Printer in Greek, 1559.]

^C

THE PREFACE OF JOANNES PICUS

TO THE LATIN VERSION OF THE HOMILIES OF SAINT MACARIUS THE EGYPTIAN

Which he published under this title: The Fifty Homilies of the Holy Father Macarius the Egyptian, translated by Joannes Picus, President of the Inquisitorial Classes in the Parisian Senate. Paris, 1559. By Guillaume Morel, Royal Printer in Greek. With royal privilege. 12mo.

Joannes Picus, President of the Inquisitorial Classes in the Parisian Senate, to all pious worshippers of Christ and the holy Church, Greeting.

How ancient and illustrious is the origin of anchorites and monks is declared, in the first place, by the solitary conversation of blessed John the Baptist, which we have described in the book of the Gospels; it is declared in the second place by the monuments which the disciples of the Apostles and the philosophers contemporary to them have left us, of which kind was Philo, the philosopher and most illustrious orator, who flourished in the times of the holy apostles Peter and Mark; it is declared, finally, by the authors of Ecclesiastical History, and by the teachers and interpreters of divine things: whom I prefer to introduce speaking, rather than to attribute my own discourse to them, since we have fallen into such times in which everything, however true, is assailed, and nothing is believed by the majority except what is pleasing to them and strikes their fancy. Let us therefore draw forth first some things from the book of blessed Dionysius, the disciple of the Apostles, concerning the Ecclesiastical Hierarchy ^D (a): "The highest order of all those being initiated is the holy arrangement of the monks, having been purified from all things, by an all-encompassing power and complete purity of its own operations, and of all that pertains to God...

(a) Cap. 6, concerning the orders which are initiated.

perfecting powers of the hierarchs, and being instructed by their divine illuminations and hierarchical traditions in the sacred rites which it has been contemplated in, and, in accordance with their sacred knowledge, is led up to the most perfect completion. Hence, our divine guides deemed them worthy of holy names, calling some "cultivators" and others "monks," from their pure service and cultivation of God, and from their undivided and unified life, which unites them in the sacred contractions of divided things, into a God-like unity and God-loving perfection. For this reason, the holy institution also granted them a perfecting grace, and deemed them worthy of a certain sanctifying invocation, not a hierarchical one—for that happens only in the priestly orders—but a ministerial one, performed by the holy priests as a secondary service to the hierarchical rite.

The Mystery of Monastic Perfection.

The priest stands before the divine altar, reciting the monastic invocation; ^B but the candidate stands behind the priest, neither bowing both knees, nor one of them, nor having the God-delivered oracles upon his head, but standing merely by the priest as he recites the mystical invocation over him. When the priest has completed it, he comes to the candidate and asks him first if he renounces all divided lives, and not just lives, but also fantasies. Then he instructs him in the most perfect life, bearing witness that he must have risen above the intermediate state. When the candidate has conscientiously agreed to all these things, the priest, having signed him with the sign of the cross, shears him, invoking the triad-substance of the divine blessedness, and stripping off all his clothes, ^C he clothes him in others, and, having embraced him with the other holy men who are present, makes him a participant in the God-ruling mysteries. That he does not bow either knee, nor has the God-delivered oracles on his head, but stands by the priest as he recites the invocation, signifies that the monastic order is not one that leads others, but one that stands of itself in a singular and sacred stance, following the priestly orders, and as a follower, being led obediently by them to the divine knowledge of the sacred things that pertain to it. The renunciation ^D of not only divided lives, but even of fantasies, signifies the most perfect philosophy of the monks, operative in the knowledge of the unifying commandments. For it is, as I said, not of the intermediate order of those being perfected, but of that which is higher than all. For this reason, many things that are performed without reproach by the intermediate order are forbidden in every way to the unified monks, as they are bound to be unified toward their One, and to be gathered toward the sacred unity, and toward the priestly life, so far as is permitted, fashioned—as it possesses that which is akin to it in many ways, and approaches it more than the other orders of those being perfected.

The seal of the cross-like mark, as has already been said by us, signifies the total inactivity of all carnal appetites. The shearing of the hair signifies the pure and unadfigured life, which does not artificially beautify that which is misformed in the mind with spurious shapes, but leads it of itself, not by human beauties, but by singular and monastic ones, to the most God-like state. The removal of the former garment and the taking of the other signifies the transition from the intermediate holy life to the more perfect one, just as in the holy birth from God, the change of the garment indicated the transition of the life being purified into a contemplative and wise state. If, then, the priest and all those present, who are holy, embrace the one who has been perfected, understand the holy communion of those who are God-like, [missing line of Greek, continuing from Latin: alt-version omitted] rejoicing together in divine joy. At the end of all, the priest calls the one who has been perfected to the God-ruling communion, signifying holily that the one who has been perfected, if he has truly arrived at the monastic and unified uplifting, will not only be a contemplative of the sacred things that pertain to him, nor will he come to the communion of the most sacred symbols in the intermediate order, but with the divine knowledge of the holy things in which he participates, he will come to the reception of the God-ruling communion in a different way than the holy laity.

^A It has the head placed upon the divine books, but it is present only to the priest who recites the mystical prayer over it. When that is completed, the priest, as he comes to him who is being initiated, asks him first whether he renounces not only distinct and separate lives, but also visions; then he sets forth to him the most perfect life, saying this as a testimony, that he must overcome and pass beyond the middle life. When he who is being initiated has continuously professed that he will do all these things, the priest, having signed him with the sign of the cross, tonsures him, calling upon the three persons of the divine beatitude; and having stripped off every garment, he clothes him in another, and after he has saluted him, he makes him a participant in the divine mysteries with the other holy men who are present.

Contemplation.

^B That he does not bend either knee, nor has his head bowed to the divine books, and is present to the priest who is reciting the prayer, declares that the order of monks is not to be led by others, but to stand in itself and by itself in a singular and holy state, following the orders of priests, and to be easily led by them to the divine knowledge of the sacred things that touch upon him. Moreover, the renunciation—if I may so speak—of divided and various lives, as well as of visions, signifies the most perfect philosophy of the monks, which has power and efficacy in the knowledge of the precepts which make them one. For, as I have said, it is not of the middle order of those who are being initiated, but the highest of all. Therefore, many things of theirs, which are done with impunity and without reproach by the middle order, are in every way forbidden to individual monks; for they ought to be joined to the One and gathered into the sacred monad and formed, as far as possible, after the life of priests; because that order is in many things similar to that order, and it is the only one out of all the orders of those who are being initiated that approaches it most closely. The sign of the figure of the cross, as has already been said by us, declares the deprivation of all desires pertaining to the body. Furthermore, the tonsured hair indicates a life that is pure and not adorned by any figure, which does not decorate the deformity of the mind by the introduction of feigned figures or colors, but excites it by itself, not by human beauty, but by a singular and unique ^C beauty to the divine. The stripping off of the former garment and the putting on of another signifies the translation from the middle holy life to a more perfect one: just as at the beginning, by God or by baptism, we said that the change and mutation of the garment signified the migration from the life which was being purified to the state and habit of the contemplation of wisdom. But if now also the priest and all the holy men who are present salute him who has been initiated, understand the holy society of those who imitate the divinity, lovingly congratulating one another with divine joy. Finally, the priest invites him who has been initiated to the divine communion, holily indicating him who has been consecrated: if, however, he should arrive at the institute of the monks, which is singular, he will not only be a spectator of the sacred things which are permitted to him, nor will he come into the society and communion of the most holy sacraments by the rite of the middle order, but with the divine knowledge of those sacred things which he has perceived, he will come to the acquisition and perception of divine society in another way than the holy people.

Philo, indeed, wrote about the origin of these same men in this manner (a): "After we have discussed the Essenes, who practice the active life, it is required of the order—either to all, or, what is less invidious to say, to the majority—that we should next say those things which are to be said concerning those who are dedicated to contemplation. For the excellent virtue of such men ought not to provide a cause for silence to those who think that nothing honest should be passed over in silence or hidden. ^D The institute of this philosophy appears soon from the very names; for they are called *therapeutae* and *therapeutrides*, that is to say, healers (male and female), or worshippers and priestesses, in the true name, either because they profess a medicine more excellent than that vulgar one throughout all the towns; for the latter heals only bodies, while the former frees souls also from grievous and stubborn diseases, which have been inflicted by pleasures, concupiscences, pains, fears, avarice, follies, injustices, and the rest of the perturbations and the innumerable army of vices; or because they have learned from nature and the sacred laws to worship that Being which is better than the good, and more sincere than the One, and in generating more ancient and, so to speak, more principal than unity. To whom, then, shall we deservedly compare the piety of these men?" And after a few words are interposed: "But that therapeutic race of men will always progress in the contemplation of the divinity, even when this sensible sun has passed away, nor will it ever desert its order which tends toward the most perfect happiness. Those who addict themselves to this institute of life do not do so by custom or because they are asked, but seized by the love of celestial things, and as if spurred by divine madness, until they arrive at that most desired contemplation. Then, out of desire for an immortal and blessed life, as if already dead to this mortal one, they leave their possessions to their children or relatives, voluntarily yielding the estate to them: and even to associates and friends, if relatives are lacking. For it is fitting that he who has attained sharp-sighted riches should leave those blind ones to blind-minded men." And not much later: "Having therefore left their possessions and all distractions, they flee, having no regard for brothers, children, parents, and wives, and they desert numerous kindreds, societies, friendships, and finally the very fatherlands in which they were born and educated. Since custom has great momentum in enticing souls. They do not migrate, however, to another city, like miserable slaves, who solicit being sold to other masters, so that they who change their slavery do not escape it. For any city, even if it is adorned with the best laws, is full of much tumult."

NOTAE. (a) Book *On the Contemplative Life or Virtuous Suppliants*.

^A which no seeker of wisdom could endure. But they live outside the walls in gardens or solitary villas, loving solitude, not out of hatred for men, but to avoid associations with those unlike them, whom they know to be harmful to good morals. This class is found in many regions of the world, and deservedly so, as it is accepted by both Greeks and Barbarians for its absolute integrity. ^B Most especially, however, it is frequented in Egypt through the individual prefectures, particularly around Alexandria. From all these places, every best man among the Therapeutae is sent—as if to the fatherland of this class—as a colonist to a most suitable place, situated by Lake Mareotis, on a terrain that slopes slightly, secure also in respect to the temperateness of the air. For the neighboring villas and villages provide it with security; the air, however, is tempered by the outlet of the lake discharging itself into the sea, and by breezes that never cease to blow faintly from the deep, just as harsher ones are borne from the lake, with the mixing of which a most healthful climate exists.

The dwellings of these settlers are extremely frugal, prepared only against heat and cold, not contiguous as in cities—for that does not please those who love solitude—nor yet far removed, because they love society, so that they might be able to help one another against the chance incursions of robbers. Each one, moreover, has sacred small shrines which they call *semneia* or monasteries, where the solitary ones devote themselves to the mysteries of the holy life. Nor do they bring into it any food or drink, or anything else for the use of the body, but only the law and the oracles of the prophets divinely bestowed, and hymns and certain other things useful for promoting piety and knowledge. Thus they have a perpetual memory of God, so that not even in their dreams is anything presented to them other than images of divine beauty. And there are those among them who, in dreaming, produce remarkable sentences of sacred philosophy.

Every day they are accustomed to pray twice, in the morning and at evening: at the rising of the sun, seeking a truly happy day, and that their minds might be replenished with heavenly light; at the setting, however, that the soul, having been completely exonerated ^C from the senses and the weight of sensible things, might investigate the truth in its domestic chamber. The interval of time between the morning and evening is entirely devoted to meditation. For, busying themselves with sacred volumes, they apply themselves to philosophy received by hand from their ancestors, scrutinizing its allegories, since they believe that beneath the open words lie secrets of nature, to be explained by probable conjectures. They also have commentaries of the ancients, who, as authors of this sect, left many monuments concerning such allegories, to the imitation of which their successors adapt themselves. And so, they not only contemplate, but also compose songs and hymns to the praise of God, arranged in rhythms with a varied genre of meters and songs for a more solemn and religious appearance.

For six days, each one philosophizes separately in those monasteries of theirs just mentioned, not going outside, nor indeed even looking out. But on the seventh day they assemble for a common meeting, and according to the order of age they sit down in decent attire, keeping their hands under their cloak, the right one between the chest and the beard, the left applied to the side. Then, the eldest, who is the most expert in the dogmas of that sect, comes forward into the middle, his expression composed for gravity, with a moderate voice, not without great prudence—unlike the orators or the sophists of our age, who are seekers of display for their eloquence: because he has more at heart exquisite sentiments and their diligent and accurate explanation, which might not settle upon the surface of the ears, but through hearing might penetrate into the soul and there firmly inhere. All the rest listen in the utmost silence, nodding with their eyes only or with their head.

This common *semneion*, into which ^D they assemble on the seventh day, is closed off by a double partition, with separate assemblies for men and women. For women also listen according to custom, provided they follow the same institution. The middle wall rises from the ground three or four cubits in the manner of a breastwork; the upper parts are open up to the roof. From this comes a double convenience: both that the modesty of the female sex is consulted, and that the words of the teacher are heard easily without obstacles which might intercept the voice.

They build other virtues in the soul as if upon Temperance as a foundation. Nor does anyone take food or drink before the sun sets, because they judge that the study of wisdom is appropriate to the light, but the care of the body to the shadows. Therefore they devote the whole day to the former, and but a small part of the night to the latter. Some among them scarcely feel hunger every third day, being more attentive to the knowledge of their disciplines. Nor are there wanting those who, having received a sufficiently luxurious feast of wisdom, which abundantly provides its own pleasures, persist for double that time, and scarcely on the sixth day do they taste necessary food, accustomed to live like cicadas on dew, soothing their starvation with songs, as I believe. But the seventh day, as a holy and feast day, they esteem with special honor; on which, after the care of the soul, they refresh also the body, relaxing continuous labor just as one does for a beast of burden.

In their food they use simple bread; salt fills the place of side-dish; those who are more delicate add hyssop as a condiment. They draw drink from the streams, content to appease the mistresses added by nature to mortals, hunger and thirst, without all allurements, enjoying things without which it is not permitted to live. They eat, therefore, so as not to be hungry; they drink so as not to be thirsty, avoiding satiety as an enemy to soul alike and body. And since there are two species of covering—clothing and shelter, concerning which I have already spoken—they are unadorned and extemporaneous, made only for present use. In clothing, too, the same simplicity appears, for warding off heats and colds: in winter a thick tunic in place of skins, in summer an *exomis* or a linen undergarment. For in general they practice modesty, as they claim that it is the fountain of truth, just as they deem that deceit is born of arrogance. For various species of evils flow from deceit; conversely, from truth comes an abundance of all human and divine happiness.

Next, with some things interposed, he says this: "But when they have gathered, candidates and joyful, with the utmost gravity at a signal given by some *ephemereutes*—this is how they name such ministers—before they recline, standing in one line decently, and having raised their hands and eyes to heaven: since they have learned to look upon heavenly things,"

^A seeing that they are incorruptible by bribes and illicit gain, they pray that the banquet may be pleasing to God. Once the prayers are finished, the elders recline, and then the others in accordance with their respective dignity. For they do not judge elders by their years, but even if they are very aged, they consider them as boys if they have embraced this institution late; indeed, they grant the honor of old age to those who have exercised themselves from youth in this most beautiful and divine part of contemplative philosophy. Women are also admitted to the table, mostly old women, but virgins, not of forced chastity, as are certain priestesses among the Greeks, but spontaneously continent out of love for wisdom, in the study of which they have despised the pleasures of the body throughout their whole lives, undoubtedly the divine, not the mortal, offspring desired, which alone ^B souls dear to God bring forth from themselves, receiving the intelligible rays of the Father in place of seed, so that they may be able to perceive the decrees of wisdom by contemplating them. The seating is arranged so that the men occupy the right side separately, and the women the left side separately. And if anyone suspects that the couches, even if not sumptuous, are certainly prepared somewhat softly for high-born men devoted to philosophy, let him know that they are rough mats woven from a lowly material, namely from local papyrus, so placed upon the ground that, by rising up, they support the elbows. For they relax that Laconian hardness of discipline a little, always and everywhere proving a liberal frugality, turning away from the enticements of pleasure with all their might.” And a little later: “Wine is not provided during those days, but most limpid water, cold for the rest, but warm for those who among the elders are treated more delicately. The table is pure from bloody feasts. Bread is set out for food, salt for side-dishes, and hyssop for seasoning to please those who are dainty. For they labor like priests with holy abstinences, with a whole manner of living chastened to the same frugality. For they hold wine to be a poison bringing on madness, and they say that desire, that insatiable beast, is stirred up by rich foods. These are the beginnings of the banquet.” And after a few words it is added: “The explanations of the sacred scriptures consist of allegories. For these men think that the whole law has the likeness of a living creature, in that ^C the precepts represent the body, but the hidden meanings concealed under the veil of words represent the soul. In which the rational soul contemplates itself admirably as in a mirror, seeing the wonderful beauty of the meanings beneath these very words and unfolding them from the wrappings of ^D figures, and thus bringing a deeper understanding to light, only among those who, having been warned by the occasion, know how to gather obscure things from the open ones. But when the president is seen to have satisfied the desire of those listening by treating the matter well, applause is openly displayed by all. Then he, rising, first sings a hymn in praise of God, either newly composed by him, or taken from some one of the ancient prophets. For there exist ancient poems of this kind, in trimeter verse, and hymns with their accents to be sung amidst sacred rites before the altars, either by those standing, or by those leading dances, moderate with various turnings and returns. The others soon mimic the president in decent order, with all listening intently and quietly, except at the end of the hymn and its final clause. For then everyone raises their voice, without any distinction of sex.” These are the words of Philo. How much these things contribute to the Christian religion and the ecclesiastical order, Eusebius of Caesarea clearly explains in the second book of his Ecclesiastical History. He indeed affirms that the leader of these *therapeutes* was the blessed Mark the apostle and evangelist, the first bishop of Alexandria, and that Philo wove the beginnings of the ecclesiastical institution and the origin of the apostolic and even the evangelical tradition into that same book of the Suppliants, writing thus: “They say that this Mark was first sent to Egypt, that he preached there the gospel which he had also written, and that he first established the churches in Alexandria. Moreover, such a multitude of believing men and women was gathered there at the first accession through an exercise of philosophy that was very thorough and diligent, that Philo deigned to commit their exercises, meetings, symposia, and the entire remaining manner of life to letters.” It is also reported that this Philo came to Rome under Claudius to converse with Peter, who was then preaching to the Romans. Nor is this indeed improbable. For that commentary, which we say was at length elaborated by him in later times, manifestly contains the canons of the Church, which are preserved even to our own times. Moreover, because he described the life of our religious, as accurately as could be done, it remains sufficiently manifest not only that he saw those apostolic men of his time, who had likely come from the Hebrews, and for that reason were still observing the rite of the ancients after the manner of the Jews, but also that he approved of them, and judged them to be divine and honest. Above all, this is also clear, that wishing to add nothing beyond the truth from elsewhere or from himself to these things which he attempted to write, in that book which he inscribed concerning the contemplative life or those who pray, he called them worshippers, and the women who were with them, he called worshippers, and he added the cause of this appellation, either because they cared for and healed the minds of those approaching, freeing them from the passions of malice, just like physicians, or because they worshipped the heavenly deity in the world with worship and pure religion. Therefore, whether he imposed this appellation upon them according to his own judgment for the aforesaid reasons, and thus properly described the name of these men, or whether they were truly called so from the very beginning, when the Christian name was not at all celebrated in any place at that time, it is not necessary that we contend. This, however, he attests above all: that they renounced their worldly wealth, and ceded it to others who had begun to philosophize; then also that they abstained from all the cares of this life, and having left the walls behind, they lived in solitude in fields and gardens, knowing for certain that the associations of those who followed a different manner of living were useless and harmful to those who were then applying themselves to this, just as was right, as

^A with a lively and fervent faith they used to imitate those who led a prophetic life. For indeed it is recorded in the Acts of the Apostles 1, concerning which there is no doubt, that all the disciples of the Apostles sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, according as any man had need, so that there was no one at all among them who was in want. For as many as were possessors of lands or houses, as the words themselves state, sold them, and brought the price of the things that were sold and laid them at the feet of the Apostles, so that it might be distributed to each according to the necessity of each. The aforementioned Philo, bearing witness to facts similar to these, adds immediately, saying: "This class of people exists in many places in the world; for it was fitting that both Greeks and Barbarians should become participants in the perfect good: but it abounds in Egypt in each separate prefecture, as they are called, and especially around Alexandria. And from every side, every good man, as if into his own fatherland, so into this colony of cultivators, to a most suitable place which lies near Lake Mareotis upon a lower mound, betakes himself very opportunely for the sake of security and the temperateness of the air." Then, also describing their dwellings, what they were like, he says these things concerning the churches of that region: "In each, however, there is a sacred domicile, which is called a *semneion* and a monastery; in which staying, they celebrate the mysteries of an honest and holy life, bringing nothing into it, ^B nor drink, nor food, nor any other thing of those which are necessary for the sustenance of the body, but the laws and the oracles of the prophets and hymns and other things of this kind, by which knowledge and piety are increased and consumed." And a little later he says: "But all that space of time which is from dawn until evening is consumed by them in exercise. For reading the holy Scriptures they philosophize, and they treat the ancestral philosophy allegorically. For they think that the things which are in the manifest exposition of the Scriptures are certain symbols of a hidden nature signified through figures. They have also commentaries of men of old, who, having been the leaders of their heresy, left behind them many monuments in the form of things handed down allegorically, which they use as archetypes and imitate the manner of their purpose." These things therefore seem to be said by this man in such a way that it appears he was a hearer of those who expounded the holy Scriptures. But it is probable that those commentaries of the men of old, which he says were among them, are the Gospels and the writings of the Apostles, and certain expositions of the ancient prophets, such as those that the Epistle to the Hebrews, as well as many other epistles of Paul, contain. Finally, concerning the fact that they composed psalms anew, he writes in this manner: "And so they not only contemplate divine things, but also compose songs and hymns to God with gravity, in more sacred rhythms of every kind of meter and song." And he discusses many other things in that book concerning them, of whom we make mention here. But those things appeared necessary to be chosen, through which he laid down certain marks of ecclesiastical conversion. ^C But if to anyone those things which have been said seem not properly to pertain to the evangelical polity, but to be able to be adapted to others besides the aforementioned cultivators, let him at least believe these words of his which we shall subjoin, from which, if he is of an impartial mind, he will obtain indubitable testimony in this matter. For thus he writes: "They place temperance first as a certain foundation in the soul, and then they superimpose other virtues. No one of them partakes of food or drink before the setting of the sun. For they judge that the study of philosophy is worthy of the light, but the necessities of the body are worthy of the darkness; whence they allot the day to the former, but a small part of the night to the latter. Some of them do not remember food for three whole days, in whom a greater desire for knowledge than for food has settled. Some so rejoice and are delighted to be fed by wisdom, which provides dogmas opulently and abundantly, that they abstain for double that span of time, and scarcely tasting necessary food every six days, they eat." We think these words of Philo clearly and without any contradiction are said concerning our people. But if any should still obstinately contradict, let him even so allow himself to be persuaded to believe in clearer demonstrations, which can be found among no others than the religion of Christians according to the Gospel alone. For he says that among those of whom he speaks, even women are found, the greater part of whom are aged virgins who keep their chastity not by necessity, as certain priestesses among the Gentiles, but rather of their own accord ^D on account of zeal and a desire for wisdom, whose association they studiously cultivate, spurning not the pleasures of the body, but the pleasures of mortal children, for the sake of the immortal children which a mind alone loving God can beget of itself. Then, following up, he explains these things more clearly: "Interpretations, however," he says, "of the holy Scriptures are allegorical and figurative for them. For to these men the entire Scripture of the law appears to be like a living creature, so that the surface of the words is the body, but the sense hidden in the words is in the place of the soul, which their religion, especially observing as through a mirror the beauty of the sentiments shining forth from the names, began to contemplate." What need is there to add to these things, how they were gathered into one, and men and women conversed separately, and what their exercises were in their accustomed way; which even now continue among us, and especially around the day of the feast of the saving Passion we are accustomed to exercise in fasts and nocturnal vigils and in the reading of divine discourses? All of which the aforementioned man, in the same way in which they have been preserved among us alone up to the present, diligently noted and inserted into his commentaries, especially describing the nocturnal vigils of the great feast, and their exercises, with the hymns which are accustomed to be said among us; and how, with one person chanting the rhythm, the rest, listening in silence, finish the last part of the hymns together with him; how also on the aforesaid days they lie upon the ground on mats

wine in general, as he wrote in their own words, and of living creatures they do not even taste, but only water is offered to them for drinking, and their meal is bread with salt and hyssop. He writes further in what way those to whom ecclesiastical ministries have been entrusted preside among them, including the diaconate, ^A and what the episcopal presidency presides over all. If anyone has the desire to know these things exactly, let him learn them from the history of this man already mentioned. That Philo, therefore, discoursing there on the first heralds of the evangelical doctrine and the rites once handed down by the Apostles, wrote these things, is manifest to anyone. Men of the highest authority in the Church have written the unique lives of the anchorites: the holy Athanasius, bishop of the city of Alexandria, and Dorotheus, the life of Antony the Great, which Evagrius later translated into the Latin tongue; holy Jerome, the lives of Paul the hermit, Hilarion, and Malchus the captive monk; ^B the rest of the monks' lives were pursued by Theodoret and Palladius in worthy volumes, which recently came to light in Latin thanks to the efforts of Gentianus Hervetus, a man who served the Christian republic well. If anyone should desire the conversations of these men, let him read Cassian. But when such men, scattered through the deserts and leading a solitary life, seemed to be useful only to themselves and to promote the Christian religion but little, Basil the Great, bishop of Caesarea in Cappadocia, as Nazianzen says in the *Life of Basil*, led them to the cities and towns, so that from them the people might learn a manner of living pleasing to God and divine worship. ^C Therefore, it will not be regrettable to subjoin the words of Gregory Nazianzen: "But," he says, "in order that he might be profitable not only to himself but also to others, he first devised monasteries, and reduced that ancient and rustic rite of the monks to a certain order and rule more proper to religion. For when he noticed that those who live in the common life, that is, among others mixed together, although they observe monastic abstinence, are indeed useful to others, but not at all to themselves, since in many things it is necessary for them to be involved in evils which seem contrary to a quiet and perfectly complete life; and, on the other hand, he saw that those who act in solitude far from others are indeed stronger in their purpose and more joined to God than the aforesaid, yet they are useful only to themselves, since they have no experience of affairs, nor any commerce with others; he attempted to join both types of life. ^D For this reason, he ordered monasteries of monks to be built not far from those who live in human society, and did not separate them entirely, so that both by proximity, when the work of charity demanded it, they could be present, while being otherwise separated by their own boundaries, lest their quiet or peace be interrupted by the multitude, nor the monks themselves be deprived of the merit of action which would come from the piety bestowed upon others, nor, conversely, their action be rendered useless by tumults; and so that one might help another in this way, and the life of the monks might be made pious through the conversation of those who act in the common life, and they themselves might learn quiet, constancy, wisdom, and contemplation from the monks, just as the earth and the sea help and receive one another." When Basil had therefore gathered these men into the cities, and had made cenobites out of monks and anchorites, he wrote for them a rule of living consonant with the Gospel, which we hold in high esteem, and which monks of the whole of Greece have observed and revered until now, just as the Latins have also taken from it the rule of the blessed Jerome, Augustine, Benedict, Dominic, Francis, Bernard, and the rest. But lest, by various allegations, we overwhelm the mind of the reader and go beyond the measure of an epistle, forgetting our intention, Palladius and Nicephorus testify that there were two Macariuses: one of Alexandrian race, who although younger, held the primacy in the things that are most important for monks; the other an Egyptian, older in age, who wrote these very Homilies in Greek, which we have translated into the Latin language. He lived ninety full years, sixty of which he spent in solitude. Thus, born thirty years, and established in the age of youth, he endured the labors of training for a whole decade with such tolerance that he was held worthy of a certain great and distinguished honor, so much so that he was called παιδαριογέρων, that is, an old man in the age of a boy, because he had progressed in virtues sooner than his age. At forty years of age, he received power against demons, and also the grace of healing, and the spirit of predicting future things. He was also held worthy of the honorable priesthood. Two disciples dwelt with him in the inner solitude which is called Scete. One of them, indeed, as a minister, always sat by him for the sake of those who came to be healed, while the other separated himself into a cell. But as time went on, when the holy man had foreseen with clear eye, he said to his minister, named John, who later was made a presbyter and succeeded to the place of Macarius: "Listen, my brother John, and bear with equanimity my admonition, which will be of great profit to you. For you are tempted, he said, and the spirit of avarice is tempting you; for so I have perceived; I know, however, if you kindly take my exhortation, that you will be perfect in the fear of God and his work, and you will be praised, and ^C the scourge will not approach your tabernacle. But if you do not listen, there will come upon you the things which happened to Giezi, of whose vice you are suffering." It happened, however, that having died he did not obey Macarius, but rather him who, because of avarice, tied the noose of Judas. And so, fifteen or twenty years having elapsed, when he had usurped the goods of the poor, he labored with such grave elephantiasis that in his whole body there was not found an intact place where one could fix a finger. This was the prophecy of Macarius. This holy man was reported to suffer continual ecstasy, and often to be involved either with God or in celestial matters. There was also a constant report that in the solitude he had raised the dead, in order to persuade a certain heretic who was denying the resurrection. The rest,

which were wrought by him through divine favor, are to be sought from Palladius. The divine Spirit, therefore, which was active in our Macarius, could not be idle without bringing forth some fruit through him, and caused him, who was beneficial to his fellow monks by his example alone, to be beneficial to all by his writings transmitted to posterity. From these we have received fifty homilies written in Greek from the Royal Library. Since we perceived, upon reading them, that they would be profitable not only to monks and those who, as they say, profess religion, but to any Christian reader whatsoever—partly because they soothe an afflicted and mourning soul greatly and lead it from the futile trifles of this world to heaven, and partly because they prescribe a rule of living well and happily, consistent with the Gospel—we have translated them into the Latin tongue, having prefixed a brief argument to each homily, so that what each one contains may emerge immediately. We send these very homilies, printed in Greek and Latin, to you who will receive them with a grateful mind, intending to issue them forthwith should the tranquility of the times bring anything better. Fare you well, and pray to God that He may favor the designs we have undertaken for His glory. Paris, Kalends of May, M.D.LIX.

A SIX-LINE VERSE BY JOANNIS DAVAL OF TRÉPORT, DOCTOR OF THEOLOGY, IN PRAISE OF PRESIDENT PICUS

Concerning the Macarii. From Suidas.

Arguments of the individual homilies of Macarius.

^A XV. How holily and chastely the soul of a Christian ought to conduct itself toward Christ its spouse. 100 XVI. That spiritual men are subject to temptations and afflictions, the origin of which is original sin. 132 XVII. On the spiritual anointing and glory of Christians. 141 XVIII. On the treasure of Christians, which is Christ, and the Holy Spirit exercising them in various ways to attain perfection. 150 XIX. That a Christian wishing to progress in all that is good must compel himself by force. 157 XX. That Christ alone healed the soul, which He clothed in the ornament of His grace. 166 XXI. That a twofold battle lies upon the Christian man, external and internal. 168 XXII. On the twofold state of those who are departing. 171 XXIII. That only those who are of royal seed can wear the royal diadem. 172 XXIV. That the state of Christians is similar to trade and fermentation. 174 XXV. That through disobedience we have been reduced to servitude, from which we are liberated through the mystery of the cross; also on the efficacy of tears and of the divine fire. 178 XXVI. On the dignity, capacity, and operations of the soul, and in what manner it is tempted by the devil and ^B liberated by Him. 184 XXVII. Pursues the dignity and state of the Christian man and his free will, with useful questions meanwhile interspersed. 200 XXVIII. Describes and deplores the calamity of the soul in which Christ does not dwell because of sin. 214 XXIX. That God bestows His grace in a twofold manner, the fruit of which He eventually reaps by a just judgment. 218 XXX. That the soul must be reborn of the Holy Spirit to enter the kingdom of God, and how this happens. 223 XXXI. That the faithful must be changed in mind and must gather into God all their thoughts, upon whom the divine service truly depends. 230 XXXII. That the glory of Christians for now lies hidden in their souls, which will emerge at the time of the resurrection and will illuminate their bodies in its own way for each. 234 XXXIII. How attentively and diligently one ought to pray. 241 XXXIV. On the glory of Christians not unknown to them. 244 XXXV. On the old and new Sabbath. 246 XXXVI. That the glory of those who rise again is diverse. 248 XXXVII. On paradise and the spiritual law. 249 XXXVIII. That precise judgment is needed in discerning true Christians, and who they are. 258 XXXIX. For what purpose divine Scripture was given to us by God. 261 XL. The interconnection of virtues with one another, and likewise of vices. 262 XLI. How deep the penetralia of the soul are, which receives increments of grace or vice little by little. 266 ^C XLII. Not external things, but internal things promote or injure man, such as the spirit of grace or the spirit of wickedness. 268 XLIII. On the progress of the Christian man, whose entire strength depends on the heart, as is described here in various ways. 270 XLIV. How great a change and renovation Christ effects in the Christian man, who has healed the diseases of the soul. 276 XLV. That man is healed by no arts or works of this world, but by the sole advent of Christ; this homily records his great kinship with God. 282 XLVI. On the difference between the word of God and the word of the world, and between the children of God and the children of this world. 287 XLVII. Allegorical explanation of certain things under the law of benefactors. 291 XLVIII. On perfect faith in God. 301 XLIX. It is not enough to have abandoned the delights of this age, unless one attains the beatitude of the other age. 305 L. It is God who works miracles through his saints and through creatures. 308

[After the index of sacred Scripture passages that are cited in the homilies and the index of memorable things, the Latin homilies cover pp. 1-311. At the end of which you read: Printed by Guil. Morelius, Printer to the King in Greek, in Paris, the Kalends of May, 1559.]

PREFACE OF ZACHARIAS PALTENIUS TO THE EDITION OF THE HOMILIES OF ST. MACARIUS OF EGYPT, WHICH HE TITLED

THE FIFTY SPIRITUAL HOMILIES OF THE HOLY FATHER MACARIUS THE EGYPTIAN HERMIT, ON THE INTEGRITY THAT BEFITS CHRISTIANS; to all those to whom the salvation of the soul is truly a concern, they are most useful and necessary, both because of his remarkable doctrine of piety and because of the frequency of similar instances. Translated from Greek into the Latin tongue, and now edited together for the first time in Germany by M. ZACHARIAS PALTENIUS of Friedberg, 1594, Frankfurt, at the house of the widow of Johann Wechel, at the expense of Nicolaus Bassaeus. Small 8vo.

To the Reverend, and in lineage of splendor and ancient nobility, in religion, virtue, doctrine, and many merits toward the Church of Christ most excellent man, DD. JOHANN SWICHARD OF CRONBERG, Scholastic of the distinguished metropolitan church of Mainz, Provost of St. Alban, and also Vicar General in spiritual matters to the most reverend and illustrious Lord, Lord Wolfgang, Archbishop and Prince Elector of Mainz, his most esteemed Lord and Patron, greetings.

As often as, Reverend, most noble, and most eminent Lord Schwichard, most distinguished Maecenas, a man of the highest...

laudatory praises and of a name that shall never perish, I see, I say, in this most sorrowful old age of the world, ^A how coldly and sluggishly the Greek language is taught and learned in most places, my spirit is immediately overwhelmed by grief, sorrow, and no small sadness. For what is this dementia, this stupidity, this insanity of those men who hope to achieve the praise of rare and solid erudition without the rudiments of this language? It is surely no less than if one were trying to cross an immense and vast ocean without a ship, or to fly into the aether without wings, or, without the tongue or the gift of the Holy Spirit, to disentangle, reveal, and explain the mysteries of eternal salvation, or finally, ^B without our King and brother Christ, to enter the heavenly city of the upper Jerusalem and the joys of paradise. And indeed, the excellence of this language is so great, its dignity is so great, its utility coupled with that dignity is so great, its breadth, its majesty, and its decor and adornment are so great, that if this language were to be compared with others, it would seem to surpass and exceed all the rest, both in the copious series of its vocabulary and in its wonderful variety of dialects, just as the sun, once it has ascended into the upper hemisphere, obscures all the stars of the eighth sphere with its radiance. For there is no art or discipline within the circle of human and liberal studies that can lack this, none that can be taught perfectly ^C without it, and none that can be thoroughly perceived and understood without it. And if, as it is clearer than meridian light, the Latin language flowed and proceeded from the Greek, so that what Homer sings of the ocean:

*Ἐξ οὗπερ πάντες ποταμοὶ καὶ πᾶσα θάλασσα* *Καὶ πᾶσαι κρῆναι καὶ φρέατα πάντα νάουσι*

can not undeservedly be said of the Greek language, then no one, I think, even the most impudent, would deny that without a knowledge of the Greek language—which is, of course, the beginning and origin of the matter—an exact and perfect knowledge of the Latin language cannot be attained. Which indeed, if I wanted to demonstrate and prove it—as the majesty of the matter itself demands—in individual arts or disciplines, or in their highest faculties, I fear that our discourse would extend to infinity. I shall touch upon the matter briefly, lest, as I said, it seem more in accord with a lie than with truth. And in the beginning, do not all the arts—grammar, dialectic, rhetoric, music, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, poetics, politics, therapeutics, physics, theology, and indeed the entire field of philosophy ^D and the whole circle of disciplines which we call *ἐγκυκλοπαιδείαν*—still taste of Greek sources? So much so that they do not even admit names other than the native and Greek ones, and we do not recognize them by other names, and they rightly allow themselves to be known by us on the condition that they are not allowed to be separated from their sources. If we examine the matter from the letters, as it were, from the egg, do not the Latins owe all their letters, one or two excepted, to the Greeks, and yet have they not perfectly and fully attained the concise brevity, or rather the elegance, of Greek letters? For what the Latins express with four letters, the Greeks express with two, as is apparent in the words *ἀπόφθεγμα*, *φύσις*, and the like. Do not Grammarians also greatly need the skill of this language, so that those who sound and write *Criste* for *Christe* and *eleison* for *eleeson* are considered unrefined and ignorant of all things? What shall I say of dialectic, or what of rhetoric? With what infinite words, I ask, do they use, which are partly Greek, and partly made in their imitation, whose force and meaning those who are ignorant of them—how seriously they err—is known to all. And certainly there are many things in Aristotle that either cannot be translated into Latin optimally, or, if translated, are received by the readers in a different sense than he intended. Indeed, it is plain even from this that poets who are ignorant of Greek letters undertake work in vain and can never enter the inner chambers of the Muses, because all fables and poetic inventions depend upon the Greeks. Why should I speak of the mathematical sciences? Can they be held as perfectly without Greek letters as they are without Greek authors? Who, I ask, understands Euclid unless he is a Greek? Who Ptolemy? Who Proclus? Who but a Greek will explain what is a *trigonos*, what a *tetragonos*, what a *monas*, what a *trias*, what a *diapente*, what a *diatessaron*, what are *excentrici*, what *syncentrici*, what *epicyclii*, what *eclypses*, and such a great crowd of that kind, that one could be exhausted by hearing them before finishing them all. But if I should proceed to serious and arduous disciplines, medicine so greatly needs Greek letters that those who lack the knowledge of them, while, as the poet sings, they administer—

*Φάρμακα πολλὰ μεμιγμένα λυγρὰ καὶ ἐσθλά*

—not rarely cast the sick into the extreme danger of life. For since all the words for medicines, ointments, plasters, potions, cerates, as well as those for living creatures, plants, gems, diseases, remedies, instruments, weights, and measures are Greek, who, I ask, without knowledge of this language, would deserve to be adorned with the praise and commendation of a skilled physician? Who, I ask, without a knowledge of this language, will understand Hippocrates and Galen, the *κορυφαίους* and *δαδούχους* of all physicians, of whom it could truly be said that they were—

*Ἰητροὶ ἀνδρῶν πολλῶν ἀντάξιοι ἄλλων*

—who, I say, will understand them, who will explain them, who will extract the genuine and true meaning from them? And indeed that jurisprudence cannot lack the assistance of the Greek language is made manifest from this.

NOTAE. (a) Corr., Palth. pleni. EDIT.

For what is more, there are several laws and titles which jurists have borrowed entirely from the Greeks—the title concerning usury from Aristotle, of course, and from Plato the *ff. de nundinis* l. 2; likewise, the title concerning punishments from Homer and Demosthenes. Therefore, the youth who are eager for the laws have the utmost need of the help of Greek literature. Regarding theology, however, which conveys to us the holiest oracles and thus the sum total of our salvation, if anyone were to assert that he can lack the knowledge of this language, he seems to me not much unlike one who maintains that a body can be kept safe and sound without nourishment and food. Are not all the Evangelists, with the exception of Matthew alone, are not all the epistles of Paul, is not the Apocalypse of John written in the Greek language and handed down to us? Are not Basil, is not Chrysostom, is not Nazianzen, is not Eusebius, is not Origen, is not Theophylact, is not Athanasius and Epiphanius—men commended for the holiness of their lives and their erudition, with whom I do not easily see a theologian of any language or age ^B whom you could compare—are they not, I ask, all those who wrote their works in the Greek language? What fruit, then, shall we have from them, what consolation or delight, if we neglect the study of the Greek language? None, certainly. And surely, in that event—which God forbid—all their labor would have been in vain and useless. I confess, indeed, that a great taste can be drawn and perceived from Latin texts; nevertheless, in this regard I agree with the poet who sings:

*Waters are drunk more pleasingly from the very fountainhead.*

Since all these things, then, are as I have said, who could be so stubborn, so obstinate of mind, so stiff-necked, and so perverse of judgment as not to acknowledge such great excellence of this language, such great dignity, and the usefulness joined to that dignity, and, having acknowledged it, not to proclaim it and adorn it with deservedly laudatory praise? Rightly, therefore, and most excellently does the man of subtle judgment and profound erudition, H. S., as a *parodos*, sing about this language:

^C *Best of the Greek tongue, treasure of speech,* *Possessing every measure of all the graces.*

And indeed, to confess honestly, such great love of this language has seized me, such great desire has held me from almost my tenderest years, that for the whole of a six-month period—may avoiding envy of speech be granted—I gave myself entirely to Homer alone:

*From whom as from a perennial fountain* *The mouths of the bards are moistened with Pierian waters;*

reading, rereading, and pondering. For the same thing happened to me as does to those who, having perceived some small taste of divine mysteries, are held by an all the more ardent desire the more the joys of heaven have been revealed to them. So I, with the greater fervor with which I unfolded the Greek writers of both prose and verse, the more vehemently did that passion of soul begin to be inflamed and ignited, so much so that no *ἀψυχία* or weariness of that study ever seized me; and the more I hungered, yet that hunger could never be stilled, filled, or satisfied. And when this winter, from continuous labors by which I had been overwhelmed, though not oppressed, for more than a year and a half, a small respite was granted, I happened by chance upon the holy and divine work of the holy father Macarius—those most holy Homilies, filled with the highest piety, the reading of which so delighted, refreshed, and held me that, before I had finished browsing the book in the space of three days, I showed ^D myself to be altogether grave and troubled in my perverse thoughts. For these homilies and discourses are so teeming with religion that they are able to restore to life even one placed in the agony of death, and to be present with holy consolation. Therefore, enticed and bound by the supreme sweetness of this most sacred reading, I finally undertook a Latin version of some distinguished and principal homilies; not, however, with the intention that those which I had adorned in a Latin vesture should be common to another with me, but that I might irrigate the dry rivulets of my own intellect and cultivate the uncultivated little fields of my memory. When certain men of no small standing or learning had seen these things rendered into Latin at my house, they began to urge, press, and tell me that if I finished the web I had begun to weave, I would perform a service not at all ungrateful, both to the youth who are eager for Greek letters and to all others for whom the salvation of the soul is a true concern. Desiring to satisfy their ardent desire and will at last, as was right, I took up the work which I hope is not useless, in which, as for how much labor I have expended or sustained, they will be witnesses who know the labors I spend day and night in our printing shops. For in order to satisfy the promise made and the press, it was necessary to filch certain night hours, the troubles and harshness of which, however, the love of language overcame, the very charm of the work surpassed, the abundance of consolations lightened, and the rest depicted in the mind by heaven softened, so much so that while I rolled the stone of Sisyphus, I felt it being rolled by me not at all. But since, as is wont to happen, I feared there would not be wanting some more unfair critics and Aristarchuses who might less approve of this labor of mine, I thought it worth the effort if I sought some patron for this work who, by his own erudition, might...

^A be able to defend it against others, as the occasion demands. But as to why I have chosen you, most noble Swicardus, before all others, many reasons can be given. For since you are the one whom, in this age, all rightfully respect, admire, and venerate, both for your exceptional gifts of mind and for the brilliant ornaments of virtue which so fully suffice to adorn a man, to whom else rather than to your exalted and most noble name, T. R. D., should I mark, dedicate, and consecrate the holy Homilies of the holy Macarius? Indeed, what more shall I say regarding the high and ancient progeny and family of your lineage, which for many centuries has always thrived with the highest praise? Fortes creantur fortibus, Est in iuvencis, est in equis patrum Virtus, nec imbellem feroces Progenerant aquilae columbam. The very monuments of history bear witness to this throughout all of Germany, and even throughout almost the entire world, by which your virtue, having been illustrated, can no longer remain unknown for long. I pass over the Emperors and Princes—not only domestic, but also foreign—to whom the prudence of the Cronbergs in their councils, and their fortitude in matters of war, was always of use and of the utmost admiration. What shall I say of Wilhelm Cronberg, the golden knight, whose virtue and fortitude shone forth many centuries ago, when he was appointed king at the equestrian games established by Emperor Conrad II and the Duke of Eastern Francia, and when he returned home laden with the most ample prizes of victory? What shall I say of the piety, integrity of life, and holiness of Eberwin, Bishop of Worms, who sprang from your heroic lineage and who shines out like the star of the morning among the other stars? What of the fortitude and unbroken spirit of Philipp Cronberg, whom Emperor Charles V, of this name, appointed as a primary leader of military forces as his merits and most excellent gifts of mind required? What shall I say of the great knowledge and profound learning of the others in the liberal arts, whose glory and the fame of whose eternal name are placed in a high position? To whom is not known and evident the great magnitude of mind, prudence, religion, piety, and humanity of the most reverend and illustrious Prince and Lord, D. Walther Cronberg, Supreme Master of the entire Teutonic Order throughout Italy and Germany? Testimonies of this fact could be sought from most worthy and illustrious writers, if the matter required it. But lest I seem to pursue external matters, what of your own father, Hartmann von Cronberg, senior of his age, T. R. D., that most noble man? With what virtues, I ask, with what consistency of mind, justice, and other ornaments of virtue did he shine? Indeed, with such great ones that they raised him to the highest dignity and the greatest honors, and won for him such trust and authority with the most Reverend and Illustrious Prince Elector of Mainz, that nothing difficult, nothing of any moment or weight, occurred without him being invited to its deliberation and definition, or indeed being held in the highest regard? And why should I even mention your most noble brothers, each of whom, having been admitted to the council of the most Illustrious Prince Elector of Mainz, is endowed with such gifts of mind that they are able, in accordance with the circumstances and the time, to deliberate on any matter pertaining to business, to speak conveniently of those things which they have deliberated, and, as often as the matter demands, to carry them out? This has resulted in their promotion to the most ample and honorable dignities, which they preside over with praise. I pass over here the others whom the whole world respects, venerates, and honors, decorated with the dignity of Burggrave or the highest prefecture, and adorned with the belt of knighthood. But as for you, reverend and most ample Swicardus, lauded for the ancestral religion and nobility of your people, what shall I say? To whom are not known and evident the many virtues that shine in you? Piety, humility, affability, humanity, equanimity, experience in affairs, skill in languages, patience in labors and troubles, and the highest kindness and ready will to do good toward all, even those of the lowest status and the needy—this whole circle of virtues encircles you like some precious pearl; they claim you entirely for themselves and draw you to their side. But I do not wish to dwell longer on the recounting of your praises, which are innumerable, lest I seem to diminish your many virtues with my meager speech: although, given your modesty, you may take it hard that they are proclaimed by anyone. This much is most certain, which I wished to demonstrate: that you are the one whom those polished by the knowledge of letters should hold and observe as their own overseer of letters and virtues, and as their common defender and patron. By which name, although I am by no means to be counted among the number of the learned, if I establish you as the patron of this translation for myself, I seem to vindicate it by my own highest right. Therefore, I offer to you, most reverend and spectable Swicardus, this holy work of a holy Father, translated afresh by me from the Greek tongue into Latin, with the arguments of each homily prefixed and added: you, who are the wisest of all, will judge whether I have translated it truly, if only you have the leisure to turn your mind from more burdensome cares to the perusal of the holy work of the holy Father. I hope that you will now kindly receive it as your own, illustrate it with your splendor, cherish it with your dignity, and defend it with your authority, so that it may be able to boast by its own right, if not of the author, at least of its patron, everywhere: and that you may receive me, who am entirely devoted to you, T. R. D., and love me, and, as far as lies in you, to...

promote my dignities and honors, I pray most humbly. For the rest, I pray from the bottom of my heart to the eternal God, Father of our Liberator Jesus Christ, that He may protect Your Reverend ^A Lordship as a singular and elect instrument of His grace under the shadow of His wings, that He may grant you a tranquil and peaceful life, bestow the blessing of soul and life, and finally adorn you with the unfading crown of beatitude. From Frankfurt, from my study, the Calends of April, in the year 1594 from the birth of the King Messiah, the Son of God. Your Reverend Lordship’s most devoted, M. ZACHARIAS PALTHENIUS of Friedberg.

Heroic poem on the life of Blessed Macarius of Egypt, ^B Primary founder of the eremitic life, formerly a most devoted disciple of Father Antony, etc., to the same Reverend, noble, and most excellent man, Lord Joannes Swichardus of Cronberg, etc., his gracious patron, written by M. Valentinus Leuchthius, Count of the Lateran Palace and Court, etc.

A long-debated question, and not of the lowest rank in sacred matters, Is who, first or foremost in the order of the saints, Cherished a life apart, and the desert dwellings of the beasts. For some report that Elijah, sprung from Thisbe, Who climbed the ridges of Carmel and the jagged peaks of the mountain, Avoiding the unworthy furies of Queen Jezebel, And the savage wrath of her hostile brow. There are those who mention the Baptist, whom the Spirit filled Within the very womb of his mother, enclosed by divinity, Who, from tender years, traversing the mountain summits, And fleeing the crowds of the people and the favors of the world, Sought the cliffs of the woods of the Jordan's tide, Wore woven garments of camel's hair; And the skin of a wild beast girded his middle, ^C And green locusts from the fields gave him sustenance, And the honey-comb consumed from the hollow of the wild holm-oak; He mocked, O Bacchus, your powers, nor did he care for other things Which delight the minds of men with festive cups. But others, and those whose better judgment dwells in their mind, Point to the origin derived from a certain Paul, who in the dire time Of cruel Decius, fleeing treachery, approached the inhospitable fields, So that among the woods, and also among the dens of lions, He might sing, O Christ, Thy pleasing praises to the Highest, And exalt Thy name with a sincere breast. Happy Antony follows him in this one exercise Of austere life; for, joyous in the desert, He forsook the sight of men and his dear parents, So that he might escape the snares of Satan, of the world, and of the flesh, And, being free, might avoid malignant frauds, And please Christ alone with a peaceful heart, And offer supreme service to God without end. ^D Next after him is our Macarius, who is mentioned in order, Whom the fertile land of Egypt, with Pelasgian zeal, Produced, and sent to us by divine star. A rival of Antony in life and blessed customs, As a disciple he follows the placid speech of his faithful master, He gave himself wholly to Thee, O Christ, and chose a life free From cares, and full of rigid burden. He constantly contemned all the delights of the world, And sought the cloudy recesses with a courageous mind, And there, naked, needy, barely covered by a worn-out stone, He resolved to endure snows under the open sky in the glacial blasts Of winter, having tested how much patience at length And harsh poverty and human limbs could endure. Whose body, attenuated by a meager garment, Patient of sloth, enduring cold and heat, With wrinkled face, and tears flowing from his mouth, Consumed the hardness of grief under a silent, Constantly complaining breast, joyful in salvation. Whom the light birds surrounded, as he sounded pious words, Any animals with ears stood amazed before his feet. Not a house shining with gold, or adorned with gems, Nor wool reddening with Tyrian color for him, Nor the happy acres of the field turned by a hundred Ploughs, nor the little estate rich with growing vine-shoot, Or the offspring of an unnumbered flock, nor ships coming Full of Sabaean merchandise from the Nile shore, Make him happy, or others, as he was. O how joyous is the poverty of a mind conscious of piety, An immortal and perennial honor to a brave man!

Or has the luxury of the Achaemenians and the kingdom of high Phrahatis, or the fields, overcome him with strength. To whom the scorching fires surrendered, and the way of life fled, which, ever accompanied by persistent guile, revisits the mournful heart. He suppressed cruel frauds and harmful crimes, and cast down all fantasies with a chaste spirit; and fulfilling the commands of God with various virtues, rich in a few things, and avoiding the transient goods of the present life, he was able to hope for things to come; he bore away worthy rewards, and sought the heavenly kingdoms. Now, having obtained the honors of heaven with full merits, he spends eternal years in happy hours. He gave us an excellent example to follow, that we might flee the pomps of the world and the heights of its ways, and always continue meditating on God with a pure heart. O too happy lot of the soul, and to be joined to the blessed inhabitants of the sky, whom the ether shall enclose; whoever is pleased by these such great examples, which such great ones have followed, shall go to the Elysian fields with much profit. Now I am brought to you, Schwichard, noble offspring, famous flower of the ancient Cronbergian stock, powerful in distinguished virtue and praised by fame, whom piety, honor, and zeal, devotion, true religion, the three Graces, and constancy of heart greatly commend—you, the splendor and greatness of the Muses. Receive the divine Macarius, formerly a writer in the Pelasgian tongue, now speaking with a Latin mouth, whom the most learned Palthenius offers with a pious mind, and favor him with the studies of Leuchtius in the accustomed manner.

*Joannes Trithemius, On the Writers of the Church.* Macarius the Egyptian monk and formerly a disciple of the blessed Father Antony, a man devoted to a most holy way of life, concerning whom many miracles are told—how he even obtained voices from the dead in their sepulchers for the confirmation of the faith—flourished in great holiness under the emperors Constantine and Constantius in the year of our Lord 350; his deeds are held in the Lives of the Fathers.

*From Suidas.* There were two Macarii, of the same name and renowned for their ^A discipline, through their life, their character, and their teachings. The one, the Egyptian, was a miracle-worker, and was severe with those who encountered him, along with being pious; but the other, the Alexandrian, was in all things similar to the Egyptian, and was genial; he was so genial to those who encountered him, and by his pleasantry, he led young men toward discipline. Evagrius, having become a disciple of these, attained to the philosophy which is through works, having previously been a philosopher by word alone; who, at Constantinople, was promoted to the order of deacon by Gregory the Theologian. But having gone down into Egypt as well, and having encountered the aforementioned men, he emulated their life. By him, very serious books have been written; of which one is inscribed *The Monk*, or *On the Practical Life*; another, *The Gnostic*, or *On those gifted with the grace of knowledge*; its chapters are fifty. The third is the *Antirrheticus*, against the tempting demons, divided into eight parts according to the number of the eight thoughts; and six hundred *Prognostic* problems; and two *Elementary* works, one toward monks living in coenobia or fellowships, and one toward the virgin assembly. And he says in the following words: "It is necessary that we diligently investigate the ways of the monks who have gone before, and be directed according to their standard. For there are many things said and done rightly by them, among which someone also said this: that a drier and rougher manner of living, when yoked with love, leads the monk more quickly to freedom from passion."

PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF THE YEAR 1622

The individual subjects of the Homilies of Blessed Macarius.

I. Allegorical interpretation of the vision described in Ezekiel. Page 1 II. On the kingdom of darkness, that is, sin; and that man is freed from it by the favor of God alone. 21 ^A III. On the quiet conversation of the brethren among themselves and the interior battle. 28 IIII. By what means one must make progress in the Christian life. 35 V. How much the life of Christians differs from the life of other men. 68 VI. On the way of praying. 85 VII. On the clemency of Christ toward men; it also contains answers to certain questions that are perhaps curious. 94 ^B VIII. On those things which happen to Christians while they are praying. 101 IX. That divine promises and prophecies are fulfilled through various outcomes and trials, and that by clinging to God alone we are freed from the infestations of demons. 108 X. That the gifts of divine grace are retained and increased by humility and alacrity, but are lost through pride and sloth. 120 XI. That the virtue of the Holy Spirit in the heart of man has the likeness of fire. 126 XII. On the state of Adam after the image of God was lost. 145 ^C XIII. What fruit God requires from a Christian. 164 XIV. That those who dedicate themselves to God do not do so without the hope of reward. 166 XV. How holily and chastely the soul ought to conduct itself toward Christ its spouse. 174 XVI. That spiritual men are subject to trials and afflictions; the origin of which is the first sin. 230 XVII. On the spiritual anointing and glory of Christians. 246 ^D XVIII. On the treasure of Christians, which is Christ and the Holy Spirit, exercising them in various ways toward attaining perfection. 264 XIX. That a Christian desiring to make progress ought to compel himself to all that is good. 277 XX. That Christ alone has healed the soul, which He has clothed with the ornament of His grace. 288 XXI. A double war lies upon the Christian man, external and internal. 296 XXII. On the double state of those departing this life. 302 XXIII. Only those can wear the royal diadem who are of royal seed. 303 XXIV. The state of Christians is like trade and fermentation. 307 XXV. By disobedience we have been reduced to servitude, from which we are freed through the mystery of the cross; also, on the efficacy of tears and divine fire. 314 XXVI. On the dignity, faculty, and operations of the soul, and by what means it is tempted by the devil and freed from him. 326 XXVII. He follows the dignity and state of the Christian man, and his free will, with useful questions interspersed in the meantime. 354 XXVIII. He describes and deplores the calamity of the soul in which, because of sin, Christ does not dwell. 380 XXIX. God bestows His grace in a twofold manner, the fruit of which He finally requires by a just judgment. 387 XXX. The soul must be reborn of the Holy Spirit to enter the kingdom of God, and how this happens. 396 XXXI. The faithful one must be changed in mind and collect all thoughts toward God, on whom divine service truly depends. 407 XXXII. The glory of Christians is currently hidden in their souls, which at the time of the resurrection will emerge and illuminate their bodies, each in its own way. 414 XXXIII. How attentively and diligently one must pray. 426 XXXIV. On the glory of Christians not unknown to them. 430 XXXV. On the old and new Sabbath. 434 XXXVI. The glory of those rising again is diverse. 437 XXXVII. On paradise and the spiritual law. 439 XXXVIII. Exact judgment is needed in discerning true Christians, and who they are. 452 XXXIX. For what purpose divine Scripture was given to us by God. 457 XL. The interconnection of virtues, and likewise of vices. 458 XLI. How deep are the penetralia of the soul, which gradually receives increments of grace or of vices. 466 XLII. Not external, but internal things promote or harm man; such as the spirit of grace or the spirit of wickedness. 469 XLIII. On the progress of the Christian man, all of whose strength depends on the heart, as is variously described here. 472 XLIV. How great a change and renewal Christ makes in the Christian man, who has healed the diseases of the soul. 482 XLV. That man is healed not by any arts or works of this world, but by the coming of Christ alone; this homily recounts his great kinship with God. 493 XLVI. On the difference between the word of God and the word of the world, and between the children of God and the children of this world. 502 XLVII. Allegorical explanation of certain things done under the law. 509 XLVIII. On perfect faith in God. 525 XLIX. It is not enough to have left the delights of this age, unless one attains the blessedness of the other age. 531 L. It is God who performs miracles through His saints and creatures. 537

The Homilies exist in Greek and Latin from pages 1-542. To these individual homilies, far more prolix Greek arguments were prefixed by Palthenius, as he himself testifies in the Preface above, columns 305-306; these you have below in the Preface to the second Parisian edition of the Homilies of St. Macarius the Egyptian, column 317 sqq. The Homilies are followed by an Index of subjects and sentiments contained in the Homilies of St. Macarius, digested in alphabetical order, which is followed by this letter of Palthenius and the printer: PALTHENIUS TO THE READER, GREETINGS. From Suidas and Trithemius, friendly reader, in the earlier pages of the booklet we added certain things regarding the life of Macarius.

^A nor did we have at hand other writers mentioning Macarius at that time. But since the work was gradually drawing to a close, we perused Nicephorus and Palladius. Certainly both, as stated above, testify that there were two Macariuses: one Egyptian by birth, who, although younger, held the first place in those things which are chief among monks; the other, the Egyptian, older in age, who wrote these very Homilies in Greek which we have translated into the Latin tongue. He lived full XC years, LX of which he spent in solitude. Thus, born at the age of XXX and established in the youthful state, he bore the labors of training for an entire decade so patiently that he was held worthy of a certain great and distinguished honor, to such an extent that he was called παιδαριογέρων, that is, an old man in the age of a boy, because he had progressed in virtues faster than his age. At XL years of age he received power against demons, and likewise the grace of healing, and the spirit of predicting future things. He was deemed worthy also of the honorable priesthood. Two disciples dwelt with him in the inner solitude which is called Scete. One of them indeed always sat by him as a minister for the sake of those who came to be healed; the other, however, withdrew separately into a cell. But in the preceding time, when the saint had foreseen with a piercing eye, he said to his minister by the name of John, who later was made priest and was substituted in the place of Macarius: "Listen, my brother John, and bear with an equal mind my admonition which will be very useful to you. For you are being tempted, he says, and the spirit of avarice is tempting you; for so I have clearly perceived. I know, however, if you will benignly bear my exhortation, that you will be perfect in the fear of God and His work, and you will be praised, and the scourge will not approach your tabernacle. But if you do not listen, there will come upon you those things which eventually happened to Gehazi, whose vice you suffer from." It happened, moreover, that when Macarius died, he did not obey him, but rather him who because of avarice tied the noose of Judas. And so, after XV or XX years had elapsed, when he had misused the goods of the poor, he labored under such a grievous elephantiasis that in his whole body there was not found an unblemished place in which one could fix a finger. Such was the prophecy of Macarius. This saint was reported to suffer a constant ecstasy, and more often either with God or in heavenly matters to dwell. There was also a constant fame in the solitude that he had raised a dead man to persuade a certain heretic denying the resurrection. The rest, which were done by divine favor, are to be sought from Palladius in the *History of the Fathers* chap. 19 and 20, and Nicephorus, *Eccl. Hist.* lib. IX chap. 14. Farewell. ^B

The Printer to the Reader, Greetings.

PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF THE HOMILIES OF ST. MACARIUS OF EGYPT WHICH APPEARED UNDER THE TITLE: ALL THE WORKS OF THE HOLY FATHERS GREGORY OF NEOCAESAREA, SURNAMED THAUMATURGUS, MACARIUS OF EGYPT, AND BASIL, BISHOP OF SELEUCIA IN ISAURIA, WHICH COULD BE FOUND. Now for the first time edited together in Greek and Latin, with the necessary indexes. Added is John Zonaras' Exposition of the Canonical Epistles. Paris, at the expense of Michel Sonnius, Claude Morell, and Sébastien Cramoisy, on the Via Jacobea. MDCXXII. With Royal privilege, folio.

To the most illustrious man Mericus de Viq, supreme pro-chancellor of the Gauls.

PREFACE TO THE EDITION OF THE YEAR 1622

to those meeting him to be joyful. And since piety and the ancient faith and religion of the venerable Fathers are highly becoming to a man raised to such a pinnacle of dignity, behold, there come forth from our presses into your hands three athletes of the faith who have never been conquered: Gregory the Wonder-Worker, ^A Basil of Isauria, and that Macarius, blessed in name and in reality, an Egyptian, who come to you from the fountains of the East—as if they were the three noble soldiers of David of old—bearing water from the cistern of Bethlehem, that is, the drink of the ancestral faith and of a purer doctrine. These are three, celebrated not only for the glory of Attic eloquence, but—what is more—conspicuous for the probity of their morals, the holiness of their lives, and the frequency of their miracles.

Gregory, indeed, who, placed over the church of Neocaesarea, so fulfilled the duty of his pastoral office that, with no more than seventeen associates joined to him, he brought all the inhabitants of the city and the countryside to the faith of Christ; who by his prayers moved a high mountain; who turned a very deep lake into fertile soil and led back the course of an overflowing river into its own channel by the touch of a rod, whence he was also called another Moses; who in the prediction of future events was inferior to none of the Prophets, but superior to many in the varied performance of miracles, and was hence called the Wonder-Worker.

Then Basil, who, wise beyond his years, at only eighteen years of age was raised to the rank of bishop of Seleucia in Isauria and set himself as a wall before the house of God against the heretical perversity, whether by the doctrine in which he excelled or by his strength of soul; who, at the council of one hundred and fifty bishops convened at Chalcedon, was present among the first, confirmed the decrees of the Nicean synod by the authority of his own judgment, and broke the ulcer of Dioscorus's faith.

Finally, Macarius, the ornament of hermits, a great lover of solitary quiet, who, having completed a span of sixty years in solitude, experienced every exercise of religious piety. To whom it was a familiar thing to drive away demons, to heal various diseases, and to foretell the future by a prophetic spirit. Who, for the sake of confirming the faith of a certain doubter in the future resurrection, even invoked the testimony of a man who had been raised from the dead. To whom the thoughts of hearts were known, and who, placed still on earth, lived united to God, almost in a continuous ecstasy of mind.

What is there, then, that a wise man would not deem just and good in these Fathers? Choose, therefore, most illustrious man, either the eloquence of the former, or the probity of the second, or the wisdom of the third, or better yet, embrace both. For you have in the choice selection of such men an encyclopedia comprising all the virtues that adorn a grave man. You have in their sacred monuments, which they consigned to posterity in their writings, an image expressed to the life, both of sincere doctrine and of the Catholic faith, indeed, of piety itself. Wherefore, we did not judge our gift, such as it is, less worthy of a man of such great literary merit. Indeed, we deem our typographic society to be rendering, to the one whom we find a just appraiser of things and whom it hopes for as a patron and advocate of literary matters, its own small gifts of gratitude. Meanwhile, as you kindly accept these tokens of our mind toward you, may the Almighty receive our prayers, and may He keep you safe, as we long for, for a long time, both for the good of His holy Church and of all Gaul. Farewell. ^B

Deeply devoted to Your Highness, Michael Sonnius. Claudius Morellus. Sebastianus Cramoisy.

The works of St. Gregory the Wonder-Worker follow, pages 1-116, then the title: THE HOMILIES OF THE HOLY FATHER MACARIUS OF EGYPT, FIFTY IN NUMBER, EDITED CONJOINTLY IN GREEK AND LATIN BY THE INTERPRETER JOHN PICO, PRESIDENT OF THE INQUISITORIAL CLASSES IN THE SENATE OF PARIS.

A hexastich by John Daval, Doctor of Theology of Tréport, in praise of President Pico: With what gift, pray, will you honor the famous Pico, Macarius, Who with his own splendor makes the Ethiopian white? ...etc., as in the Preface of John Pico to the Latin version of the Homilies of St. Macarius of Egypt, supra col. 297-298.

John Pico, President of the inquisitorial classes in the Senate of Paris, to all pious worshippers of Christ and the holy Church, greeting. How ancient and illustrious is the origin of the anchorites and monks, etc., as in the same place, supra col. 283-284.

From Suidas. There were two Macarii, etc., as in the Preface of Zacharias Palthenius, supra col. 310. [Greek: Δύο ἐγένοντο Μακάριοι κ. τ. λ.], as in the Preface of Zacharias Palthenius, supra col. 309.

Index of the Chapters of the Homilies of Saint Macarius of Egypt

Allegorical interpretation of the vision described in the prophet Ezekiel. Homily 1. ^A Page 1. On the kingdom of darkness, that is, sin, and that God alone can take sin away from us and deliver us from the yoke of the servitude of the most wicked prince. 2. Page 10. That brothers ought to conduct themselves among one another in sincerity, simplicity, love, and peace, and should wage war and struggle against their inward thoughts. 3. Page 13. It behooves Christians to complete the course of the stadium of this world attentively and accurately, so that they may obtain the heavenly proclamation from God and the angels. 4. Page 16. There is a great difference between Christians and the men of this world. For the latter, possessed by the spirit of the world, are bound in their heart and mind by earthly chains, whereas the former, held by the love of the heavenly Father, have Him alone before their eyes in every desire. 5. Page 31. Those who desire to please God ought to offer their prayers in peace, ^B tranquility, gentleness, and wisdom, so that they do not use improper shouting and cause scandal to all. The homily also contains two questions: whether thrones and crowns are creatures, and about the twelve thrones of Israel. 6. Page 38. On the kindness of Christ towards man; the homily also contains certain questions and answers that are almost absurd or frivolous. 7. Page 42. On those things which happen to Christians while praying, and on the degrees of perfection, namely, whether Christians can attain to the perfect degree. 8. Page 46. That the promises and prophecies of God are fulfilled through manifold probation and temptation, and that by cleaving to God alone we are delivered from the infestations of the demon. 9. Page 49. By humility and alacrity the gifts of divine grace are retained and increased, but by pride and sloth they are lost. 10. Page 54. That the power of the Holy Spirit in the heart of man exists like fire, and of what things we have need in order to discern the thoughts springing up in the heart, and of the serpent of death fixed by Moses to the top of the tree, which was a type of Christ. The homily also contains ^D two disputations: one indeed of Christ with the most wicked Satan, and the other of sinners with the same. 11. Page 57. On the state of Adam, before he transgressed the commandment of God, and after he lost his own and heavenly

^A image. This homily likewise contains certain questions that are altogether useful. 12.

What fruit God requires from Christians. 13.

Those who dedicate their thoughts and their mind to God do so in the hope that the eyes of their heart may be enlightened, and God deems such persons worthy of the highest holiness and purity in the mysteries, and makes them partakers of His grace. And what we ought to do if we wish to attain heavenly blessings. Finally, the Apostles and prophets are likened to the rays of the sun entering through a window. The homily also teaches what is the earth of Satan and what is that of the angels, and that both are intangible and invisible. 14. ^B

This homily teaches at length in what manner the soul must comport itself in holiness, chastity, and purity toward its bridegroom, Christ Jesus, the Savior of the world. It contains, moreover, certain questions filled with the highest doctrine, namely, whether all members rise again in the resurrection; and infinite other questions concerning vice, grace, free will, and the dignity of the human race. 15.

That spiritual men are liable to the temptations and afflictions that spring from the primal sin. 16.

On the spiritual unction and glory of Christians, and that without Christ it is impossible to be saved or to attain eternal life. 17.

On the treasure of Christians, that is to say, Christ and the Holy Spirit, who exercises them in various ways toward the attainment of perfection. 18. ^C

Christians who wish to progress and grow must compel themselves toward all that is good, so that they may be delivered from the indwelling sin and be filled with the Holy Spirit. 19.

Christ alone, the true physician of the inner man, can heal the soul and adorn it with the garment of His grace. 20.

A twofold war is incumbent upon the Christian man, the internal, namely, and the external; the former by withdrawing him from worldly distractions, the latter within the heart against the thoughts of the spirits of wickedness. 21.

On the double state of those who depart from this life. 22. ^D

Just as only those who are born of royal seed can wear the royal and precious pearl, in the same way it is permitted only to the children of God to wear the heavenly pearl. 23.

The state of Christians is like to trade and to fermentation. For just as merchants gather together earthly gains, so do these [gather] thoughts [that are] scattered throughout this age. And just as leaven makes the whole lump leavened, so the leaven of sin runs through the entire race of Adam. But Christ infuses the heavenly leaven of goodness into faithful souls. 24.

^A This homily teaches that no man, unless strengthened by Christ, has the power to overcome the snares of the wicked one; and it teaches what those who strive for divine glory ought to do. It also teaches that through the disobedience of Adam we came down into the servitude of the passions of the flesh, from which we are rescued through the mystery of the cross. Finally, it instructs us that great is the efficacy of tears and of divine fire. 25. 139

Concerning the dignity, the excellence, the power, and the operation of the immortal soul, and how it is tempted by Satan, and how it obtains deliverance from temptations. It contains certain questions filled with very great instruction. 26. 144

^B This homily continues to treat at length the dignity and condition of the Christian man, just as the preceding one did. Afterwards, it teaches many things that are very useful concerning free will, intermingling certain questions full of divine wisdom. 27. 156

This homily describes and laments the calamity of the soul, in that because of sin the Lord does not dwell within it. And it speaks concerning John the Baptist, that among those born of women there is none greater than he. 28. 167

God exercises the dispensation of grace upon the human race in a twofold manner, intending to demand the fruits of the same again in just judgment. 29. 170

The soul that is to enter into the kingdom of God must be born of the Holy Spirit; and [it describes] the manner in which this comes to pass. 30. 174

He who believes must be changed in his mind, and must gather all his thoughts unto God, in which [process] truly consists all divine service. 31. 179

The glory of Christians from now on abides in their souls, destined to be manifested at the time of the resurrection and to glorify their bodies in proportion to their piety. 32. 182

It is necessary to offer vows to God and to pray unceasingly and attentively. 33. 187

Concerning the glory of Christians, with which their bodies shall be deemed worthy in the resurrection and shall be illuminated together with the soul. 34. 189

^C Concerning the old and the new sabbath. 35. 191

Concerning the twofold resurrection of souls and bodies, and the diverse glory of those rising. 36. 193

Concerning paradise and the spiritual law. 37. 194

There is need of great precision and understanding in discerning the true Christians, and who they are. 38. 200

For what reason the divine Scripture was given to us by God. 39. 203

That all virtues and all evils are bound together, and as it were a single chain hangs from the one. 40. 204

Very deep are the storehouses of the soul, which...

^A gradually receives the increments of grace or of vices. 41. ^B 41. Not external, but internal things promote or injure man, such as the spirit of grace or the spirit of wickedness. 42. ^B 42. On the progress of the Christian man, whose entire strength depends upon the heart, as it is variously described here. 43. ^C 43. How great a mutation and renewal Christ, who has healed the affections and diseases of the soul, works in the Christian man. 44. ^C 44. No art or wealth of this world, but the advent of Christ alone can heal man, whose greatest kinship with God this homily explains. 45. llbracketD 45. On the difference between the word of God and the word of the world, and between the children of God and the children of this world. 46. ^D 46. Allegorical explanation of certain things done under the law. 47. ^D 47. On perfect faith in God. 48. ^D 48. It is not enough to have abandoned the delights of this age, unless one attains the blessedness of another age. 49. ^D 49. It is God who works miracles through His saints and creatures. 50.

[There follow two indices, one of the places of Scripture which are cited in the homilies and one of memorable matters, then the Homilies, pages 1-242.]

PROLEGOMENA OF PETER POSSINUS, S.J.

TO THE WORKS OF ST. MACARIUS THE EGYPTIAN, FIRST EDITED BY HIM IN THE BOOK ENTITLED:

*Theasurus asceticus* or *Syntagma of eighteen treatises written long ago by Greek Fathers on the ascetic life.* Now issuing forth for the first time, unearthed from the most ancient manuscript codices. Collected and interpreted by Peter Possinus of the Society of Jesus. [Tolosae et vaeneunt.] Paris, at the shop of Antonius Dezallier, in the Rue Saint-Jacques at the Golden Crown. 1684. With approval and privilege, 4to.

To the venerable Father in Christ, Dom Jean Le Houx, most worthy Prior of the Toulouse Charterhouse, Peter Possinus of the Society of Jesus sends true greetings in Christ.

Since he who finds a treasure in another’s ground is commanded by the laws of the Emperors to communicate it to the owner of the field, I feel that I ought to present this ascetic treasure I have discovered in the monuments of the anchorites and coenobites of ancient Greece to that family which, gathering in itself the honors of both the solitary and the social life, is believed to possess by the best of rights all the good things transmitted by hereditary succession from the ancient anchoritisms or societies. This, without doubt, is the sacred Carthusian Order, most illustrious over the whole world and most highly venerable. Nor, indeed, must one look far for the person to whom I should consign this due deposit: having You before my eyes, most venerable Father, and that Toulouse Charterhouse of Yours, governed by You most wisely and most religiously. Just as You exhibit the full likeness of all the heads of this most holy Order who ever were or are anywhere, so does that community exhibit the likeness of the other communities of those who worship God under the discipline of St. Bruno in various places scattered throughout the whole of Europe, so that whatever is excellent and admirable of either kind witnessed elsewhere, we behold in you collected in a brilliant compendium, and, as it were, through rays from all sides refracted into a center, clearly expressed upon one concave mirror.

^A

I do not wander outside of You, while I pursue the glory of the community committed to You. The strength and flower of the whole body resides in the head; thence the senses grow strong, the limbs have vigor; it is right that movement, faculty, and every action should refer their praise to that source from which they surely draw their origin and vigor. Nor is this fruit of a leisurely happiness given to You gratuitously, but it is the product of a solicitous and earnestly striving industry; You take care, You busy Yourself, You struggle, unceasingly attentive to the vigilance and custody of Your flock. You admonish by word, You demonstrate by example, as the most assiduous and persevering precentor and chorus master in nightly and daily psalmodies. You Yourself perform the instruction of novices; You Yourself impart to the younger professed the culture corresponding to that state; You Yourself, for the sake of those more advanced who are to be cared for and directed, not only perform all the duties prescribed by the constitutions of the Order, but also perform works of supererogation, which the ingenuity of a clever charity opportunely suggests, both numerous and varied, for the present circumstance.

These are your mysteries; about which we are forced to speak the more sparingly, since the knowledge of such things reaches us, the outsiders, only through a faint scent. These things now strike the senses more openly. Through you, the holiness of the desert has been brought into the cities today, so that, whereas in the first centuries of Christian memory the church and the clergy knew the angelic life of the anchorites by no other means than the distant report of rumor, and the seas and the broad spaces of the lands stood in the way of those desiring to behold it, now, by a better lot reserved for our happier times, we behold Nitria and the Thebais not only within the Continent, on this side of the sea, but in the suburbs, and even within the very walls of bustling cities ^B, with an opportunity desirable not so much for the novelty or pleasantness of a spectacle, as especially for the fruit of the soul and the amendment of morals in those who witness it.

Why should we not think this was foretold so long ago by Isaiah in those words: *The desert and the pathless place shall rejoice, and the wilderness shall exult, and shall bloom like the lily* (3)? The industry of human charity has adapted itself, evidently, to weakness, and, as if to ensure that its own squalor, assuming a mask horrible to virtue, might not expose it to the hatreds of the imprudent, it has implanted lilies among its own thorns; it has endured to appear more flourishing; and hiding its austerity within, it has wrapped itself in a more pleasant covering; not indeed indulging or relaxing its inward harshness, but for the sake and utility of those who look upon it, softening the eminent exterior horror with the sprinkling of a certain pious sweetness, lest the weak should be terrified at the first glance and turn away, whom it is advantageous to entice to the good.

There was going out, says the Evangelist Mark, *to John [the Baptist] all the region of Judea and all the Jerusalemites* (4). By your means, the labor of going out is turned to profit for the people of Toulouse, so that they may make progress. They have within the gates a source from which they may be initiated into holiness. The Charterhouse, presenting itself to them, opens a heavenly scene: the vestibule, the atria, the porticoes, the walls, the doorposts, the air itself breathing paradise, the prospect of the cloisters, and the ranks of cells laid out in a square and stretching far around, seeing which one may rightly exclaim with the Patriarch Jacob: *These are the camps of God* (5), indeed the camps of the Charterhouse, the new Shulamite and spouse of Christ, *as an army set in array* (6). ^C When from these, at stated hours, your ascetics are seen to proceed with that countenance still shining from a recent encounter with God, with those eyes still moist from the weeping of arcane contemplation, with that composure which recalls angels, they exhibit the whole appearance of the Antonys, Hilarions, and Pauls coming forth from their caves into the open for the praise of God, except that the hair-shirts, which they showed, are deeply applied to the skin and hidden by the covering of a white garment.

Rightly did the city of Toulouse judge such men to be those vigilant guards of the walls *who guard the city* mentioned in the Scriptures (7), when, with the fullest and most liberal consent of the magistrates and the people, which the authority of the Senate subsequently approved, it ordered the enclosure of the Toulouse Charterhouse to be extended up to the walls of the city, and committed the part of the walls and towers included in that space to your faith, wisely considering that there is no bulwark more fortified for the defense of cities than Religion. They remembered what had happened when Rome was besieged by Vitiges, king of the Goths, which, when Belisarius, defending it, had decided to restore and fortify a part of the wall that was broken and almost open to attacks, he desisted, prohibited by the consent of the protesting people, with the citizens everywhere affirming that they believed that place to be under the protection of St. Peter, and being certain that Rome could never be taken on that side. Nor did their hope deceive them. For Vitiges, after trying everything in vain, was forced to break off the siege, just as Procopius, who was present, reports this from eyewitness testimony (8).

From You I now return to You, most venerable father. A dense and manifold burden is imposed upon you who are in charge of Charterhouses, being compelled by this office to come forth from the inner sanctuaries of the deepest ascesis into dealings with the nobles and the promiscuous crowd, into kind and clean hospitality, into discourses accommodated to listeners of every status and kind. Few penetrate to the depths of how great is the power of that sentence of the apostle Paul: *I have become all things to all men, that I might save all* (9). How vivid, I say, and with what sparkling, shimmering excellence of an awakened mind the Apostle of the Gentiles must have labored, so that from the ecstasy in which, caught up into paradise, he had heard ineffable mysteries, he could pass to speaking eloquently in the midst of the Areopagus, to discoursing at length before Festus the governor, King Agrippa, and Queen Berenice, and to conversing urbanely with Sergius Paulus, the proconsul of Cyprus, finally…

^A consulting, and in sum, to acting both familiarly and usefully at Philippi with Lydia, the seller of purple, at Iconium with Thecla the virgin, and with countless others elsewhere. Thus, nowhere does it appear more brightly than in You ^B what one of the ancients used to say, that eloquence is the offspring of silence, and that no one speaks more richly and sweetly than he who has long and most religiously kept silent; while, as Bernard did from the shadow and retreat of the woods, so You, from the most severe silence of the cloister, seeming to come forth from a school of rhetoricians, are heard—whenever you must speak—as a honey-tongued orator.

I feel myself thrust into a difficult position, where I am prevented from preaching what this whole city feels and says by respect for Your modesty, which I know how much it would offend by the obtrusion of its own praises. I will use, therefore, the cunning of the Apostle Paul, who so far from disguising it, an artifice of his own, even boasted of it, when he said to the Corinthians: "Being crafty, I caught you with guile." ^C Indeed, the same man elsewhere confesses to the same Corinthians that he feared to declare certain things regarding them, out of fear of offending them, and therefore had "transfigured" them unto himself and his socius or minister Apollos, for their own sake, in order, clearly, to spare their shame. So, too, I, placing Your decorations in the persons of others, will at once save Your modesty for You, and yet not fail in my own duty of signifying things which it is important for many to know.

Regarding Great Anthony, St. Athanasius writes that he was so humane and sweet in meeting and conversing with every kind of person that he seemed to come forth not from desert mountains, where he had spent his whole life in solitude, but from the bosom of cultivated cities. I shall record the very words of Athanasius, lest anyone suspect they were fashioned by me: οὐχ ὡς ἐν ὄρει τραφείς, κἀκεῖ γέρων γενόμενος, ἄγριον εἶχε τὸ ἦθος· ἀλλὰ καὶ χαρίεις ἦν καὶ πολιτικός· τὸν δὲ λόγον εἶχεν ἠρτυμένον τῷ θείῳ ἅλατι, that is: "Not as one nurtured on a mountain and grown old there, did he have a wild character; but he was graceful and urbane, and held his speech seasoned with divine salt." These are the words of Athanasius, who elsewhere provides illustrious specimens of the same Anthony's eloquence, reciting long discourses of his, even to gentile philosophers, by which they were carried off into admiration. Also, the disciple of Anthony, Macarius, surnamed the Alexandrian, although he too had led a long life in the desert, nonetheless, as Sozomen testifies, ^D exhibited in his promiscuous intercourse with those who approached him such an elegance of manners and speech that he was commonly nicknamed άστεῖος, that is, urbane and civilized. Admiring crowds congratulate You as such, everywhere—those who return from an audience with You, bringing back in their bosom a fruit of the spirit that will endure, born of the prudence of your counsels, the gravity of your admonitions, and the wisdom of your judgments.

Nor do they hold back, but rather break out into praises afterward. Whence, as usually happens, a swelling fame, filling the city, overflows into the province with such a din whose sound, lest it reach You, no fortifications of the cloister and solitude could avail to stop. It does not escape You, therefore; but neither does it injure You, for that humble sense of Self, which is the most indubitable character of true holiness, is in no part diminished in You by this public and honorable eulogy. The more you are exalted, the more deeply you lower yourself before God within yourself, with that holy humility—unknown to gentile philosophers, proper to the Christian alone—which nowhere shines more approved than where, amidst the loudest applause of the populace and the sounding eulogies of fame, it nonetheless steadfastly retains its own place, which is the lowest. A great and rare virtue, as a fit judge of such things and an exemplar of Your decorations, St. Bernard, pronounces: "honored humility."

I esteem that the book which I offer is to be commended to You by the price of this most dear gift, which on almost every page ambitiously—I might almost say, orates upon—the praises of this most Christian and religious virtue. Nor less, I hope, will it please these venerable ascetics, both of this house of Yours and of your entire sacred order anywhere else. It will help them to behold here the abstinence which they exercise to the wonder of the world; the eternal silence, compensating for the chatter of men with the profitable exchange of converse with the heavenly; the evangelical self-abnegation, the abdication of earthly things, the indivisible adherence to God above all things with the glue of never-intermitted prayer according to the apostolic suggestions, and other most religious observances everywhere prescribed, preached, and commended equally by precepts and examples, all formed and arranged. They will behold their own forms, as in a mirror, and will recognize with pleasure—not small, as I venture to guess—the things which are practiced in your domestic institute, long since exercised and approved by the laws of the most ancient Fathers of the Church. If any grace from You and them were to fall to me in proposing this occasion and opportunity through this edition, a reward abundantly ample would be repaid to me, should I, by the indulgence of Your charity, be sprinkled with a certain participation in your merits and suffrages. Which, being much in need of them, though no less unworthy, I hope and vow, wishing and predicting all things most fortunate for You. Farewell, venerable father, and do not be burdened to admit this—such as it is—homage of a most devoted client to You and to your entire most holy order. Written at Toulouse, the 16th day before the Kalends of September, in the year 1682.

NOTES.

PETER POSSINUS OF THE SOCIETY OF JESUS' PROLEGOMENA TO THE THESAURUS ASCETICUS

^A I. Offering you, reader, in this collection, twelve Opuscula of the ancient Greek Fathers—eighteen in all—never before edited in Greek or translated into Latin, and presented here in both languages at once, I pray that while I set forth certain things concerning them, their authors, and my own labors in transcribing and interpreting them (which it will be useful for you to know), you will not be loath to lend a brief hearing. From my earliest youth, I have taken much sweet pleasure in scouring ancient libraries and in discovering what was unpublished within them—especially Greek works composed by elegant minds of old. This I did not only out of an insatiable desire for knowledge, but also because I often had to overcome the tedium of laborious work, having the patience to spend long hours transcribing onto paper—making them easier to read—works from archetypes already fading with age, in case they might prove useful to others or to myself at some time. In this, I have shrunk from no kind of praiseworthy author, and thus I have gathered a certain farrago of rhetoricians and poets, and have published some historians. Yet I confess that I have applied myself with more eager affection to the writings of the ancient Fathers and Doctors of the Church that still lie hidden in the dust of the bookshelves, whether they concern the exposition of the canonical books or treat professionally of the cultivation of morals and the discipline of religion. I have brought some of the former sort to light, and I have many more in my cabinets. For I have in my possession, besides the long-since provided collections of the Fathers on Matthew and Mark, significant supplements and additions to the Catenae edited on Luke and John and on Genesis; likewise, complete and very copious Catenae on Isaiah, Ezekiel, and Daniel; Greek scholia, as well, on the twelve minor prophets; furthermore, a continuous Commentary on Ecclesiastes extending to twelve books by Saint Gregory, Bishop of Agrigento, which I left to the learned young man John Francis de Rubeis, a Roman, to be endowed with Latinity and brought to light ^B when I departed Rome last year, 1681; and finally, a completion of the imperfectly edited work of Saint Gregory of Nyssa on the same Ecclesiastes, which carries the exposition—after the eight homilies that exist—only as far as the third chapter, and which does not represent the whole of that sacred book, but exhibits the remainder of the work of that most eloquent Father up to the very last verse of the final, twelfth chapter.

II. I must confess, however, that I have been most delighted by the encounter with works from ancient Fathers of great name, writings concerning that interior discipline of religion which they call *ascesis*—a Greek term sounding of "exercise" in Latin, but signifying something more than is immediately suggested to the mind by the first hearing of the word. I feel, therefore, that it is my duty to explain as clearly and distinctly as I can the whole nature of this subject, since its intimate understanding is bound up with the title prefixed to this collection and with the universal argument of the books that constitute this system. The Greek verb, to which the Latin *exercere* (to exercise) and *meditari* (to meditate) correspond, has not been applied since the age of the ancient Attics merely to the meaning of any exercise whatsoever, but consistently and professionally to an iterative performance toward a certain end, either of body or of mind. For military service, pugilism, racing, wrestling, and other contests, as well as hunting, singing, and the melody of pipes and strings—and similar arts that are either pleasant or useful and therefore held in esteem—have their own *asceses*, treatments, and pre-exercises accommodated to each, by which those who hope to become distinguished or happy through them are initiated. Generally, however, the ancient philosophers adapted the name of *ascesis* to the cultivation of the mind and the practice of the virtues through which man is disposed ^C to happiness. Imitating them by unanimous consent, ecclesiastical writers from the very first centuries of the New Law acknowledge and preach no other *ascesis* than that which is distinguished by the addition of piety and religion, which "feeds the soul with divine senses": these are the words of Basil the Great, easily the prince of ascetic writers, in his book *On the Solitary Life*. Therefore, the Greek word *ascesis* is long since devoted in ecclesiastical usage to indicating the practice of the internal acts of the human mind and will in worshipping God and perfecting oneself—always, indeed, and everywhere, but especially in retreat and solitude, or in the company and dwelling of those who follow the same established meditation in a sodality.

III. It is a character of the Church of Christ to honor the Divinity not with the lips alone or by the sensible usurpation of rites, as the Synagogue did, but with the deeply felt interior senses and affections of a devout soul. This distinction Christ expresses in these words addressing the Samaritan woman in John IV: "Woman, the hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth." The ancient nation of the Jews placed the sum of their religion in showy ceremonies and pomps, a practiced and profitable art of displaying which the Scribes and Pharisees, in particular, made their custom. Having ^D performed these in whatever way, they considered themselves perfect, secure from the ulcers hidden within a guilty mind and conscious of criminal affections. Rebuking them for this, Christ says in Matthew XXIII, 25: "Woe to you, Scribes and Pharisees, because you clean the outside of the cup and of the dish, but within you are full of rapine and uncleanness... you are like to whited sepulchers, which outwardly appear to men beautiful, but within are full of dead men's bones and of all filthiness." Just as, therefore, there was a certain method and formula of those Mosaic observances which the doctors of the Jewish law

had digested into rules and composed, yet they were wont to hand them down for the use of mere ambitious ostentation, so it was fitting that the holy mystics of this new law explain the whole rationale of this interior worship of God—tested by long experience and committed to writing—which is exercised by the silent senses of the mind and the motions of the will. Such is the nature, such the scope of these books which we are publishing, useful not only to monks or anchorites, as might seem to some, but destined to be beneficial indiscriminately to all states and orders of the Church; since, even if the Church of Christ, typified by Bethany, has Mary, who is entirely devoted to contemplation, and Martha, who attends to the ministries of the active life, yet they sometimes mutually participate in each other's duties. For Mary also touched upon a corporeal ministry while she bountifully anointed the head of Christ as he was hospitably dining with the spikenard of sweetest odor; and Martha herself infused moments of prayer into her occupations, as is evident from the fact that she stood speaking to Christ and praying that she might be helped by her sister. The precept to pray and to exercise the interior acts of faith, hope, charity, and religion is truly common to all Christians of any sex, age, or order, with this sole distinction for coenobites and anchorites from the rest, that the former devote themselves always and solely to religion, while the latter, indeed, think about the things of the world according to the condition of their status, yet in such a way that they do not neglect the duties of religion, rendering to God the things that are God's, while nevertheless they do not cease to consult the needs of their country and family as the situation demands. Hence, a part of asceticism belongs to them as well.

^A It is therefore a reason for me to hope that the production which I have prepared and brought to light, in one collection, of eighteen such works of such great utility by twelve famous authors, will not be unwelcome to the public, since examples of diligence in publishing such precious and less commonly useful booklets together have been favorably received. I would believe that I felt otherwise than it is right to feel regarding the sharpness and fairness of this most refined age, if, when I see treatises on hunting, hawking, farming, land-surveying, horse-medicine, and similar subjects praised and highly esteemed by it, I were ^C afraid to be despised and were to grow cold from the disdain of the fastidious, while I offer a connected series of ascetic works never before seen; as if it were more graceful to publish the precepts taught by the experts of those arts regarding the culture or measurement of fields, or the medicine of mules, than the discipline most worthy of being known and necessary to all: of pleasing God, of cleansing the soul, of exercising faith, hope, charity, humility, patience, and of praying—not only with that initial prayer easy for all, but with that other, more sublime one which they call contemplation—which, because of the danger of illusions, requires great caution, and a certain method and tested rationale, explained by most holy, most learned, and most ancient men.

^D IV. Next, an account of the Opuscula must be rendered. And first, it must be disclosed where I drew each one from. Among the many volumes of ancient Greek manuscripts, which Franciscus Turrianus, entering our Society at Rome in the year 1566, deposited in the Roman Professed House, where they are preserved to this day, there is one that collects easily thirty works concerning the ascetic life by various authors, written in an old, overseas hand, written more than five hundred years ago, as much as can be conjectured from the smoky discoloration of paper that was once white. From it I copied sixteen Opuscula, that is, all except two, the XIII and XVIII; for the former was copied from an ancient Vatican codex, which is inscribed with the number 730, and the actual last one I fetched from the library of Grottaferrata.

At the front of all, I placed the epistle of S. John Chrysostom to the monks, so clearly inscribed in the Turriani codex. If anyone were to deny that it is Chrysostom's, I would demand of him by this right of mine, that he bring forward testimony that is balanced or rather preponderant to the authority of the Turriani codex in its favor. Since it is certain that that most holy Father, by his own assertion in Book I of *On the Priesthood*, lived among the monks for quite a long time before he became a presbyter and ecclesiastic of Antioch, from which he was summoned to the Constantinopolitan throne, it is very probable that such a fruitful talent did not abstain from writing about matters on which he was then meditating, and that he therefore committed to writing this epistle at that very time, and perhaps many others of similar subject matter, which, because they do not appear in the commonly published collections of his Works, could be for the reason that those things were mostly referred into public codices which seemed to pertain to the teaching of men of a promiscuous sort, while others were allowed to be kept apart in the archives of monks and the libraries of monasteries as proper to the profession of ascetics. I have placed this epistle, moreover, before all other Opuscula not by a prerogative of antiquity, in which Macarius and Amphilochius excel Chrysostom—the former being the author of seven Opuscula from II to VIII, and the latter of the tenth—but because of the clarity of such a well-known and famous doctor of the Church, just as the Epistle to the Romans holds the primacy among the Pauline epistles because of the preeminent dignity of the Roman city or Church, even though it was given somewhat later than some of the others. In the arrangement of the remaining Opuscula, indeed, I have kept account of the age of each one, as much as I was able.

The seven subsequent Opuscula are by one author, Macarius the Great, just as the title of each clearly indicated in the Turriani codex. However, they were not expanded there in one continuous flow, but divided into two separate systems of the same name, with many things interposed. For to the former, this was prefixed in...

the manuscript, the first: *Of Macarius the Great on the custody of the heart*; it begins at folio 150 of the Turriani codex and ends at 158. The other, extended from folio 245 to 291, is distinguished by a rubricated title, sounding in Latin thus: *A summary epitome from the sayings and pronouncements of the divine Macarius, truly blessed, on perfection in the Spirit.* Reading and comparing, I observed that both works exhibit the doctrine of one author, but taken up by two, and as they had heard it from the mouth of the speaker, committed to writing by the genius of each. Hence, a notable diversity of style is seen between the former and the latter collection, although there is almost the same substance of sentiments in both, one tenor and order of precepts, nor for the most part a difference in words. The first compiler is merely more concise and somewhat less polished, reporting absolutely nothing which is not read somewhere or other in the second syntagma. That he who compiled it was not expressing the thoughts of his own mind, but those of another—namely, reciting on the front of the work the name of Macarius the Great—is declared both by other things and by the word *ait* ("he says"), which is inserted continuously where you would least expect, which I have for the most part been forced to neglect while translating, for fear that if I rendered it scrupulously, a burdensome and entirely useless repetition would interrupt the clarity and ready flow of the sentence.

However, I have gathered the whole commentary, comprised of the first collection of Macarian Opuscula and the second of this syntagma—the other, not a little richer and more prolix, I have divided into six other Opuscula of almost equal bulk—not merely by my own whim, but following the indications of the particular titles inserted at certain intervals, which I have expressed on the front of each Opusculum. The chapters too are seen as distinguished in the original codex as I have exhibited them, separated by a rubric and each given its own number, and arranged in turn.

V. I do not hide that these seven Opuscula of Macarius were the primary reason for my preparing this edition, and [that] the eleven other authors of the booklets joined to these were taken up by me with almost no other plan than to provide pomp for Macarius, and so that he might not proceed otherwise than honorably attended. In accordance with which proposed plan I must here act a little more diligently concerning Macarius the Great, not about to omit concerning the authors of the other remaining Opuscula what it shall seem ought to be said in its own place and order.

Many things moved me to expend diligence in unearthing these Macarian Opuscula from their obscurity. It is an old saying of St. Ambrose: *The first ardor of learning is the nobility of the teacher* (1). The authority of the Father, equal to the Great Athanasius, and also familiar to the Great Antony, in that very work bringing forth those things which the divinely enlightened Antony communicated secretly to his oldest disciple and firstborn son, the most faithful minister of his intimate long use of companionship, seemed worthy that I should revere it, and by making it known, I would not allow it to lie hidden forever, especially since it is spectacular and useful in [not] a few things, as I shall presently show, where I shall first have finished what I began, by defining who this Macarius is among the many disciples of Great Antony whom the same name marked.

Two famous Macarii are spoken of: one called the Egyptian, the other, the younger, the Alexandrian. The sacred calendars of the Latin Church commemorate the former on the second day of January, the latter on the fifteenth; the Greeks venerate both on the nineteenth day of the same month. They are not falsely called both disciples of Antony. For they saw and heard him, but being youths—for the elder was [already] aged—they departed late and briefly to him, as many did then, for a short veneration, soon returning to their established dwellings, which were situated very far from the station of the great Father of anchorites. For indeed Macarius the Egyptian had his seat in Scetis, the Alexandrian in the Cells, ^A which places are in Libya, far distant from the Thebaid, in which there was also the inner mountain, where Antony usually resided alone, and not far from this was the outer mountain, into which he would soon go out, that he might visit his monks living in it.

From this Macarius, however, another, different and older than both, is shown to us by Athanasius in the *Life of St. Antony*, and by Jerome in the *Life of Paul the First Hermit*, while they say that Great Antony had two intimate disciples as his own, his constant companions, Macarius and Amathas, especially in the last fifteen years of his life, whom alone he wished to be witnesses of his passing and to be privy to his burial, concerning which he gave them his final commands. The passing of St. Antony happened in the 19th year of Constantius, of Christ 356. But concerning Macarius the Egyptian, whom they place everywhere as having been younger than the Alexandrian, it is constant from his Acts that he paid the debt of nature in the year of Christ 391, a nonagenarian, after sixty years spent in the Scithian solitude. Whence it follows that he began the solitary life at Scetis in the year of Christ 331, where, since he persevered to the end—except that he traveled sometimes to Antony for the sake of seeing and consulting him—soon returning to his station, it can consequently in no wise be said that this Egyptian Macarius was that colleague, minister, and constant companion of Great Antony, whom he, already from the year of Christ 341—for this is the fifteenth year before the death of Antony—while he withdrew into the inner mountain, ^B there to run the remaining course of his life, ordered to be always at hand for him until the end, here in a place near to him, that is, in the outer mountain.

VI. I certainly esteem this Macarius, the companion of Amathas, as the author of the fifty [Homilies] which have long existed inscribed with the name of Macarius, and also of these seven Opuscula which we are now editing. For what the most learned man Joannes Picus, who published those Homilies translated into Latin by himself, opines, that they were written by Macarius the Egyptian, an inhabitant of the Scithian solitude, is validly refuted by the contrary testimony of Gennadius of Marseilles, whose chapter X of the book *De* ^{C D}

^A viris illustribus these words are read: "That Macarius the Egyptian monk, famous for signs and virtues, wrote only one epistle to the younger members of his profession." Thus he writes: "Whose authority, as a test so suitable and so eloquent, can be put forward to overcome [the objection], I do not see; and therefore I hold it for certain that another author of the Macarian Homilies must be sought, other than Macarius the Egyptian."

Perhaps someone might suggest this other, younger Macarius, commonly called the Alexandrian from the city in which he was born. But since among the many things which Sozomen (book III, ch. 13), Socrates (book IV, ch. 18), and following them Nicephorus (book IX, ch. 14) gather concerning this Macarius, they report absolutely nothing from which it could be understood that he wrote anything that has come into light and fame, nor does anyone else among the ancients or moderns, ^B so far as I know, attribute this work to him: who does not see that we are invited by great likelihood to claim these Homilies for the most ancient Macarius, the intimate and inseparable minister of the great Antony? Nor will it be hidden from the one considering it, on what occasion or by what office he brought forth in Greek—translated from the dictates of his master Antony—these Homilies; for he had been appointed by Antony to govern, in his name, five thousand monks who, in the last fifteen years of Antony's life, frequented the Pispiritan monastery. This is most clearly attested by the very ancient anonymous author of the life of the abbot Posthumius, whom our Bollandus and Henschenius cite and highly commend for trustworthiness in volume I of January, page 1006. For he, narrating that Macarius, after having governed the Pispiritan monastery alone for some years after the death of Antony, felt himself failing from old age and chose Posthumius to succeed him in his place, says most clearly that the predecessor of Posthumius was Macarius, the disciple of blessed Antony, and soon after, in the third verse: "For the same Macarius was accepted by the illustrious man Antony to govern nearly five thousand monks." Indeed, St. Antony, who had not learned letters from childhood and spoke always in his native Coptic tongue, did not use Greek fluently, and was therefore accustomed to deal with the Greeks through an interpreter, as Athanasius clearly attests to all these things, adding also that for this purpose he had ^C at hand a man fit for the purpose, and no other, I believe, than Macarius, intending him besides for his old practice of anachoresis—that is, the solitary life—he not wishing to depart from it when he had decided to persevere alone until death in the inner mountain, in a place divinely shown to him, as he truly did; yet not wishing to be wanting to so many thousands of men who were flowing together from all sides out of a desire for eternal salvation to be profited by him, he assigned for their dwelling another mountain near his own, called the exterior in distinction to it, in which the Pispiritan monastery was built, frequented by monks who, living around in distinct cells and scattered through a space of thirty ^D miles, resided at the place of the outer mountain, near to the inner, which place was named Pisper, where Amathas and Macarius resided; they were accustomed to gather for the sake of hearing sacred doctrine from Macarius, the interpreter of Antony, and also to visit Antony himself, who was accustomed to betake himself there at certain intervals of days. I ask that none of these things go unconsidered.

Behold the eyewitness testimony, reported by Palladius in the *Lives of the Fathers*, regarding all these facts, from a certain Cronius, a presbyter of Nitria, who says that he came to the monastery of St. Antony at the place called Pisper. In which, he says, sat his disciples Macarius and Amathas, who also buried him when he had fallen asleep. He adds that he had waited five days in order to meet the holy Antony. For it was said, he says, that he would approach this monastery sometimes after ten days, sometimes after twenty, sometimes after five, as it was expedient for the benefit of those who were coming to the monastery. Furthermore, that Macarius, the vicar of Antony, was in charge of those who were in that monastery is clearly stated by the same Cronius the presbyter who had seen it, adding to what was described above: "It happened, however, that on another day the Great [Antony] came late in the evening, clothed in a sheepskin cloak. He entered, therefore, his monastery. Now it was his custom to address Macarius and to ask him: 'Brother Macarius, have any come here?' Macarius would answer: 'They have come.' But the Great one would say: 'Are they Egyptians or Jerusalemites?' For the Great one had given him a signal, saying: 'When you see that some have come who have less business, say: The Egyptians are present; but when you see that some have come who are more religious and a little more contemplative, say: They are Jerusalemites.'" These things Cronius reported, relating what he had seen with the faith of a presbyter. From which it clearly appears that Macarius continuously remained in the Pispiritan monastery, performing the duties of Antony as long as he lived, and evidently delivering daily or frequent Homilies suitable for instructing the monks, of which he was not so much the author as the interpreter. For having heard them from Antony, who spoke in Coptic, he himself spoke them out in Greek. For hear Athanasius in the *Life of Antony*, vol. II of the Athanasian Works, Paris edition 1627, page 479, where, after he said that Antony, present in Alexandria at the time of the persecution of Maximinus, offered himself for martyrdom to the governor—otherwise fierce and bloodthirsty—and yet, as he had greatly desired, was not arrested, he adds: "But the Lord was reserving him for our benefit and that of others, so that in the asceticism which he himself had learned from the Scriptures, he might become a teacher to many." Now, this mastery Antony exercised in the Coptic language, which alone, as I have said, he knew. From which St. Athanasius renders in Greek two of his fairly long discourses, the first from page 461 to 477, the other from page 492 to 497, often also recording other learned sayings of his of that kind, responses and precepts, of which most are the same in the Homilies of Macarius

and appear in books today, an indication without doubt of the origin from which they were drawn. And so those Homilies are Antonian rather than Macarian, since their true author was Anthony, and Macarius was merely an interpreter, being absolutely one and the same person whose name is prefixed both to the Homilies and to the seven Opuscula just published by us. For if the author of the fifty Homilies published by Pico is to be sought (as we have shown) not in any other but in the ancient Macarius, then this same person will be found by us to be the true author of the seven Opuscula that we now present. For such a kinship is recognized by comparing both writings that it can hardly be doubted that they are the two offspring of a single Father. The senses agree with each other, the same genius of expression, the same salt of style, the same shape of structure and order, the same color and sap of the entire context and composition, so that to me at least, snow is no more like snow to the sight, nor milk like milk or honey like honey to the taste, than these two writings seem to be to the mind of the reader. Add the common suffrage of a mark on both, by which those are wont to be most carried away to persuasion who, after having long sought for an infant exposed freshly after birth or snatched away by some other mishap from the nurse’s lap, doubt whether the boy shown to them as such is indeed the same. For then, when the mother or midwife notices on the body offered for inspection the birthmark or wart that was observed when he was born, they are accustomed to shout: "Nothing more need be sought, here is the very one, here is he himself." It is fair that the same thing should happen to us when we seek the author of the Macarian Homilies in the author of the seven ascetic books. A certain deformity is perceived in the third Macarian Homily—now convicted of being false, though once seen by great Fathers as probable—concerning the corporeality of angels and souls. Moreover, the same thing may be read in chapter VI of this Thesaurus, Opusculum VI, page 124, and in almost the same words; so why should we not also admit, now that we are convinced: "This hand is entirely the hand, and indeed the voice is also the voice of the author of the Homilies, Macarius."

VII. I would not want the reader, offended by this confession of a fault, to pass immediate judgment and deem the commentary unworthy of the light and stained with the filth of the editor's labor. Such a rash judgment would proscribe too many men. For among the Greeks, St. Methodius the martyr, St. Basil the Great, just as his contemporary and familiar, St. Ephrem the Syrian, Severianus of Gabala, St. Cyril of Alexandria, Caesarius, Anastasius of Sinai, and others; and among the Latins, Tertullian, St. Augustine, St. Fulgentius, St. Peter Chrysologus, Arnobius, Cassian, Maximus of Turin, Gennadius, Rupert, and St. Bernard—all hold this error even today, recorded in their extant books, as Dionysius Petavius demonstrates by the citation of passages in *Theological Dogmas*, Vol. III, book I on angels, chapter II. And what of the fact that, since some of those just named, such as Tertullian and Cassian, have other pernicious weeds sown among their wheat—namely, the former besides other most damnable errors of the Montanists, the latter the most hateful Semi-Pelagian dogma—because they redeem both those vices with great virtues, they are so far from being forbidden from use and public light that the reading of them is even urged and commended: who would be so wicked as to try to bar all men from the sight and contact of the lucubrations of the Great Macarius because of three or four verses, a small spot sown among seven books overflowing with sound, most blameless, and most salutary erudition?

It will be permitted, therefore, to all fair and prudent men to enjoy the scent of roses in this garden as well, having avoided, as we most easily can, the sting of a single thorn; in this field, we may reap pure wheat for our stores, having neglected and rejected the shoot of darnel that may have chanced to spring up there. No common hope calls us to this work of value. Indeed, one would hardly find anywhere else a more clear, more eloquent, and more intelligent declaration of the whole rationale and method of an art otherwise hidden and complex: of serving God in spirit, and of promoting the mind and the will of each of us by a straight and certain path toward rendering acceptable worship to the divine Spirit, and of refining ourselves through the exercises of heroic virtues toward the perfection that can befall man in this life, and thus disposing ourselves to enter immediately upon death into the possession of the kingdom promised to those who love God. It will also help in the purity of Catholic dogma and the principal heads of orthodox truths, ^C which today are being defended most against heresies, to recognize the wondrous agreement of the Church which lives now with that which flourished in the age of the Great Anthony and Athanasius in these books. The absolute necessity of supernatural grace for acting well in the order toward eternal salvation is everywhere insinuated, and is most eloquently asserted in chapter XV of Opusculum VI, page 134, where it is said that one can no more think or act well without the aid of God—which surpasses the merit of nature—than one can see without an eye, speak without a tongue, or walk without feet. In chapter XIX of Opusculum VII, page 165, the same is most beautifully supported by a general induction of created things, which themselves are unable to execute their natural operations unless the aid of an alien nature assists them. The same had been demonstrated previously in chapter IV of Opusculum VI, page 118, where the Gospel parable of the ten virgins was shrewdly applied, of whom the five who are rightly called prudent: "The author says, they had presumed oil, which is the spirit of grace, from outside their own nature into the vessels of their hearts... but the five foolish ones, thinking that what nature provided for them was sufficient, deserved to be excluded from the bridal chamber into which the former were admitted."

VIII. To these one might perhaps oppose a passage from the end of chapter XXIX of Opusculum VIII, page 221, where Macarius says that it is possible for a man to refuse and not to take delight in wicked thoughts without the help of God. And there is nothing here that opposes the orthodox doctrine concerning the necessity of the help of actual grace for every positive good act.

^A For the author is dealing with a merely negative dissent, that is, a suspension of assent; and since this is a mere negation and purely nothing, it needs no aid except one that is likewise negative. That such is Macarius' thought is almost manifestly clear from these words of his immediately preceding: that it is impossible for anyone to free himself without the help of God, as far as the struggle with thoughts is concerned. Indeed, to free oneself and to clear oneself of the struggle of thoughts indicates positive acts of a man, to which—as the author pronounces—the actual aid of God by grace is indispensably necessary in every case; but he concedes that a mere suspension of assent, which is truly nothing, does not require actual aid. I know that some scholastics today deny that pure omissions of this kind are possible. By others, however, who are neither few nor lacking in reputation, they are admitted. Macarius supports the opinion of the latter in this passage; for by speaking of a mere—as I have said—cessation of the will when tempted by evil thoughts, he signifies that when he had expressed the suspension of assent by the word "to refuse" or "to contradict," in which there was a certain emphasis of a positive act, as if correcting or explaining, he adds immediately, "and not to take delight," where "and," as often elsewhere, is expository, as if one were to say "that is." To these let one, if he wishes, add that most theologians teach that for all truly salutary acts and those meritorious of eternal life, an actual grace that is supernatural in its substance, or, as they say, in its entity, is required; but that for not succumbing to temptation through a simple refusal, an actual grace that is supernatural only as to its mode, but not in its substance, is sufficient. But even if it be thought that Macarius intended to indicate this here, he will even then be without error. It appears, moreover, that these seven books were written before the doctrine of Evagrius Ponticus, the Origenist, and his pupil, Pelagius, had been born, which feigned that impeccability and the security of salvation with the full extinction of the passions were possible for men in this life. For against these, the author does not grant absolute security of salvation in this life, on account of a will that is changeable toward evil—even after ecstasies and divine visions—not even to the Apostles themselves after they had received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (cap. XVI, Opusc. VI, p. 135), so that they could fear, as Paul did, lest while preaching to others, they themselves might be rendered reprobate. Whence in chapter XX of the same book, p. 139, he brings forward the example of a monk who, after having seen paradise in a rapture, fell foully. Wherefore, in chapters VIII and IX of Opusc. VII, pp. 152 and 153, he says that perfection absolute in all particulars and full impeccability can happen to a living man only momentaneously in the point of rapture and ecstasy, after which he pronounces that he who has thus suffered is nevertheless peccable again. Moreover, in the twelfth chapter of the same Opusculum VII, p. 157, he puts forward these notable words: "Yet I have not seen any Christian perfect, or in every respect for a time ^B altogether free from the danger of sin," that is, he had seen one who writes this, having been long familiar with him in intimate association.

The opposite is the pitfall to be avoided by those who would teach the sound doctrine of grace—namely, the oppression of human free will and the denial of the liberty that is changeable toward opposites and contradictions. This our Macarius always most studiously avoids, pulling with sail and oar, so to speak, against the opposite profession of a liberty that is indifferently changeable and master of its own will; and he always, either by consent to the grace that is present for doing good, or to the temptation or concupiscence that urges toward doing evil, so that one can at will resist—wherein he judges, most truly, that the fountain of merit and demerit resides, and the true hinge of the business of human justification or depravation, insofar as these are imputable to man either for the merit of reward or for the guilt of most just punishment. Since he perpetually inculcates or hints at these things on almost every page, and most clearly enunciates them with expert design, especially in Opusc. II, chap. XII, and Opusc. VIII, chap. III, pp. 37 and 185, one who speaks thus in the fourth century of the flowing Church could seem, even if he had already read the decrees and canons of the sacred Synod of Trent celebrated more than a thousand years later, to have been unable to propose the orthodox doctrine concerning free will and concerning grace cooperating with it and with concupiscence more clearly, more abundantly, and more circumspectly; so consonant with them did he set forth the Catholic faith concerning the justification of men. ^C

IX. Here something remains to be said concerning the epithet "the Great," added to the name of Macarius. The most ancient codex which I have transcribed clearly presents it express not only in the title of the Macarian Opuscula, but furthermore in Opusculum IX, which is titled *Apophthegmata Patrum*, as can be seen on p. 243, and indeed even in Opusc. XVII of Nicephorus, a proof, if I am not mistaken, sufficiently certain that this was formerly received and common in daily usage. A threefold reason for this can be thought of.

First, the man's immense merit; I mean, the excellence of his doctrine and sanctity, which every one, as they perceived them with long-standing daily experience and felt their present fruit, for so many thousands of monks whom he nourished with the milk of the divine word both before and after the death of Antonius, ^D and whom he promoted with most efficacious dexterity toward the progress of the spirit, always going before them as an example in every function of religious duty,—thought it right to honor such an excellent teacher with such an appellation, with the Gospel as their authority, where they read (Matt. 5:19): "He who shall do and teach, he shall be called great in the kingdom of heaven."

The second, because, as they were accustomed to call Antonius "the Great" without any addition, so that this adjunct had now migrated into a proper name, as is understood from the words of Cronius the presbyter recorded above in Palladius, and as they saw Macarius produced from the bosom of Antonius, performing his duties in their government, and in every praise most similar, they deemed it equitable,

especially after the death of Antonius, to bestow upon the same Macarius the title with which they had honored Great Antonius while he lived—as the father and common patron of them all, and his own peculiar archetype and exemplar.

The most probable reason for this is that at that time two others, of whom mention was made above, were already famous—the younger Macarians living in different parts, the Egyptian and the Alexandrian—and those who were living then thought that he who was their elder should be distinguished from them by the epithet of "The Great." Would that this had been more consistently observed by posterity! For then, a harmful and most unfair confusion would have been avoided, through which the memory of a Father who was once most holy and worthy of the highest heavenly honors—a memory which should have been preserved by his own special veneration in the ecclesiastical calendars—was cheated by ambiguity; so that when the day assigned for his anniversary cult is marked in Martyrologies and Menologies for the Egyptian and Alexandrian Macarians, and their Acts are read as being described separately, the Macarius who is older than both, and no less illustrious than either, is passed over entirely nameless. I hope, however, that our Antwerp scholars—whose praise is so great in the illustration of the *Acta Sanctorum*—will remedy this inconvenience if they can find anywhere the proper history of the life of the Pispiritan abbot Macarius, composed by the old anonymous writer who, as he himself indicates, handed down in writing the Acts of Posthumius, his successor, perhaps still struggling against moths and silverfish.

X. Macarius has held our attention for a long time. I wish we could more quickly move through those things which seem necessary to be prefaced concerning the authors of the following Opuscula. The ninth Opusculum is by an anonymous collector of the sayings of the Fathers. Its age is betrayed by the fact that it recites only the names of the most ancient, which is an argument that he lived before the times of those who were later made famous. In my archetype, the Turrian codex, Opusculum X bore the simple title which I exhibit: *S. Amphilochius on Not Despairing*. The fact that no mention is made here of the Iconian episcopate—just as above in the title of Opusculum I, attributed to St. John Chrysostom, there is no mention of the See of Constantinople—is an indication that both works were written by these Fathers while they were still living as private individuals among monks, before they were promoted to their thrones, and that the literary productions of both, of such time and subject matter, were left in the archives of the monks, as if accommodated only to them. I know that there is more than one Amphilochius famous in ancient ecclesiastical memory; yet that the true author of this little book which we are editing here was that most ancient Amphilochius, famous far and wide for doctrine and sanctity—the one who passed from being a monk to become the Bishop of Iconium, and who was magnificently praised by SS. Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, Jerome, and many other ancients, whose splendid eulogies are read in the Roman Martyrology on the IX Kalends of December and in the Greek Menaea on the same day—is clearly evident from the fact that in the works of that same Saint, published forty years ago in Greek and Latin at Paris, ^A the eighth in number is set his oration inscribed *On Penance and That One Should Not Despair*; and this which we provide repeats those two narrations elaborated in writing, in the very same words, in a continuous series from the one hundredth page, where the ninth of his orations is found, up to the one hundred and twelfth. And both those histories are so unexpected and marvelous that they gave me concern, as I was writing, lest they be rejected as apocryphal and rashly invented. For which reason, I have to support them the unquestionably valid authority of a writer and a testimony that no one can deny. Moreover, I think this commentary was composed by Amphilochius while he was still a monk and a teacher of monks, from which the same prelate of Iconium later, on the occasion of strengthening his people against the temptation of despair, related those two examples in exactly the same words, omitting others which, while allegorized usefully for monks, seemed less opportune for teaching the laity.

XI. I value the eleventh Opusculum highly on account of the genuine character of the truly ascetic sentiments flourishing in it, and a certain fragrance of heroic sanctity, sweetly scented by the abundance of the anointing with which it is thoroughly imbued. I have transcribed nothing more willingly, and in interpreting nothing have I experienced such intimate sweetness. On which account I have determined most strenuously to exert myself to investigate its time and its author, both very obscure, with every possible clue. ^B It contains fourteen discourses sent to his listeners in writing, as they had been received from the mouth of a certain old man, who by long use of religious life had been raised through all the degrees of Evangelical perfection to the summit of sanctity, as much as human mortality, aided by divine benefits, can attain. The author of the discourses is named the blessed abbot Zosimas. Of the person who received them, it is only hinted that he was one of his assiduous listeners, and likely a companion of the same monastery in which Zosimas lived. Concerning these, as I sought long and solicitously, the opinion finally settled in my mind that this very Zosimas is the same as that most celebrated man divinely chosen to know the life and attend to the funeral of the holy penitent Mary the Egyptian, or, as they commonly say, the Aegyptiaca. ^C There exists a commentary on these, confirmed by every proof, not by Sophronius, as many wrongly inscribe it—a point refuted by invincible arguments by the last editor of his writing, our own Daniel Papebroch, in Vol. I of April, page 69—but by an anonymous monk of a monastery situated near the Jordan, in which Zosimas spent the last years of his life, as the author himself hints, writing thus towards the end of his narrative, after he had taught that Zosimas, having returned from the funeral of St. Mary of Egypt, had often recounted what he had seen and heard: "But the monks [viz. after the death of Zosimas] continued to learn these very things by tradition and to propose them as an argument of common utility for those who wished to hear, but I have not heard that anyone has recorded the narrative in writing." ^D I

^A proceed from this point to set forth the evidence which moves me to the opinion that the author of these *Addresses*, Zosimas, is none other than he to whom, as the sole witness, the Church owes the knowledge of Mary of Egypt, just as it owes the knowledge of Paul the first hermit to Anthony.

First, Zosimas, the discoverer of the hidden life of Mary of Egypt, having been handed over from boyhood to monastic discipline in a certain monastery of Palestine, exercised therein a most praiseworthy ascetic life for over fifty years, as he himself testifies, whose words the anonymous monk transcribes in number 3 of his narrative: "Zosimas himself used to say of himself, that, having been given from his swaddling clothes, if I may so speak, to that monastery, he persevered in the monastic course for fifty-three years." Moreover, that monastery, as is clearly stated at the beginning of the narrative, was one of those which are in Palestine. And yet these *Addresses* belong to one who lived and grew old in Palestine, and, as far as can be understood from his words, did not dwell in any other part of the world. For in *Address* VI he speaks thus: "I and one brother were traveling by the Neapolitan road with some laymen, and we came to the place where there was a toll booth, etc." Neapolis was once a most celebrated city of Palestine, as Pliny testifies among countless others, whose words in book V, ch. 13 are these: "The towns of Samaria are Neapolis, which was called Mamortha, etc." Again, in *Address* X, Zosimas says: "When I was in the monastery which is near Tyre." Tyre is indeed a city of Phoenicia, but one which, like Sidon, is assigned to Palestine on account of its proximity. Modern geographers define Palestine by the habitation of the twelve Israelite tribes, not agreeing with the histories of the Old or New Testament. For King Saul of the twelve tribes, as is evident from I Kings, and David who succeeded him, as is clear from II [Samuel] and also from I Chronicles, possessing dominion over all twelve tribes, had many wars with the Philistines, that is, the Palestinians, who certainly inhabited a region distinct from the land of Israel. But Christ Himself, who said He had not come except for the sheep that had perished of the house of Israel (Matt. 15:24), nevertheless, as is said in verse 21 of the same chapter, withdrew into the parts of Tyre and Sidon, which Mark in chapter VII also confirms, and there healed the daughter of the Canaanite woman, just as the Evangelists narrate there; as if to show that Phoenicia even then belonged to Palestine, just as this name denotes the Israelite region. Certainly, in the histories of the sacred expeditions, we see Tyre, Sidon, and the whole of Phoenicia considered part of Palestine. The ancients, however, extended the borders of Palestine much further, as did Ovid, who calls the bank of the river Tigris the border of Palestine in that verse of *Fasti* II: "And on the border of Palestine it sat by the waters," with Pliny concurring, who in book VI, ch. 28, lists the Sittacene region, contiguous to the Tigris, as part of Palestine; not to mention what Plutarch testifies, that the Strymon, a river of Macedonia, was once called the Palestinian river: why? If it be not that Palestine seemed to extend that far? Be that as it may, it seems certain that after Judea was destroyed in the first centuries of the Church, and especially in the fourth ^B, in which Zosimas was living, as we shall show, Tyre was considered to be contained within Palestine. Indeed, that the Tyrians and Sidonians were subject to Herod Agrippa, nephew of Herod the Great, when the greater part of Judea was under the Emperor Claudius, as Josephus teaches in book XIX of his *Antiquities*, is indicated by St. Luke in Acts 12:20. Since all these things are so, why should we hesitate to affirm that the monastery that was near Tyre could truly be said to be situated in Palestine? Zosimas also makes mention in a certain *Address* of "the plains," where he says he had been. What are these plains, if not the great plain of Galilee and that most extensive flatland so often mentioned in the Scriptures? Elsewhere he says that he sojourned in Jerusalem, and at other times that he had seen someone in Caesarea; all these places are in Palestine. Finally, at the beginning of *Address* XIII, he mentions the laura of Abbot Gerasimus as being near the place where Zosimas was then dwelling; namely, a monastery near the Jordan, to which he had migrated from Tyria: that the laura or monastery of Gerasimus was also near the Jordan, Moschus clearly teaches in chapter 107 of the *Pratum*, writing thus: "The monastery which is called that of Abbot Gerasimus is distant about one mile from the Jordan." From these facts it is concluded that Zosimas, the author of the *Addresses*, as well as the discoverer of Mary of Egypt, lived in Palestine.

XII. The second character of the identity of both Zosimas, is that the genius ^C and customs of both were one and the same. The reporter of the *Acts* of Mary, as is clear from the writing of the anonymous monk, was indeed a learned and eloquent man, yet he was content to teach by the living voice, and abstained from writing. Let us hear the anonymous writer testifying to this; he writes thus in number 2: "This Zosimas was an orthodox man, who, having conversed from the beginning in one of the monasteries [namely, the Tyrian, from what was said above], was proven in every kind of exercise [in Greek, *ascesis*], and was appropriately instructed in all virtue; he indeed observed the whole order accustomed to be kept in such a palaestra, but voluntarily added many things, wishing to subject the flesh to the spirit; which succeeded for him so well that, on account of his great experience in spiritual matters, many from neighboring or even more remote monasteries would frequently flock to him, to be instructed in his doctrine unto perfection." So he. Do not these things clearly indicate both the occasion and the subject of these *Addresses*? The same author adds shortly after: "However, when the old man had acquired such skill in dealing with souls, he was never lax in the meditation of the divine utterances, but insisted upon them, whether he was lying on his bed, or rising, or working at something with his hands, etc." Nowhere is there mention of writing; and that Zosimas abstained from this by a certain and irrevocable judgment is declared by nothing more than the fact that he did not commit to writing such wondrous *Acts* of the penitent Mary, of which he alone was the witness, having enough to tell by word of mouth. For so it is held in number 40 of the same narrative: "Zosimas having returned to the monastery [after the funeral of St. Mary of Egypt] told everything to the monks, concealing nothing ^D

that he had heard and seen. A little later: "The monks continued learning these very things by tradition... but I have not heard that anyone had recorded them in writing." To such an extent were those ancient holy ascetics averse to writing, dedicated as they were to the solitary life by their institute, after the example of Anthony the Great, who, having come to know the wonderful life of Paul the first hermit, uniquely by himself—though he survived him by many years—neither wrote it down nor dictated it, content merely to recount it by word of mouth, so that posterity would have remained ignorant of it had not Jerome committed to writing the memory of Paul that he had discovered from the disciples of Anthony. In the same way, Zosimas, although he had absorbed through his senses the wonderful things concerning the penitent Mary while present—even though, as is explicitly related in *Vitae Patrum*, Book I, page 299, he reached the age of one hundred and survived St. Mary of Egypt for at least thirty full years—neither he himself, nor any of his hearers by his persuasion or of their own accord, took care to commit these things to paper, until at a late hour an anonymous monk appeared, who, moved by God, rendered such a service to posterity. I, for my part, would believe that this person himself, or another from the coenobia—moved by a similar divine impulse—either of the earlier monastery at Tyre, where Zosimas lived for a long time, or of another near the Jordan, to which he migrated as an old man, was the one who preserved these *Alloquia* for us, either having heard them from Zosimas himself or knowing them from those who reported them, and undertook to record them in writing.

^B A third indication exists, derived from time, which, unless I am mistaken, is powerful in persuading us that the blessed Zosimas, whose name these *Alloquia* bear, is the very same person who buried St. Mary of Egypt. The anonymous editor of the *Acts of Mary* indicates that there were not many Zosimas's famous for their reputation during those times, who believed that he had sufficiently distinguished his namesake from ours—and, as we believe, one and the same person—from all who bore the same name, when he had differentiated him from that one who alone was known at the time as another Zosimas. Behold his own words attesting to this: "Let no one, clinging only to the appellation, think that I am speaking of that Zosimas who, regarding doctrine, lapsed and thought less correctly. For this is one man, and that is another, and they differ greatly from one another, although both were allotted the same nomenclature." So much for him. If we ask in his words who that other Zosimas is, who regarding doctrine lapsed and thought less correctly, Marcellinus will teach us this in his book *On the Schism of Ursinus and Damasus*. Since he wrote that book from recent memory, we understand its author to have flourished under Damasus or shortly thereafter, that is, around the year of Christ 390. There, however, he mentions a certain Zosimus or Zosimas, whom the Arians, infected with their own errors, forced into the bishopric of the city of Naples, which is famous in Italy, having ejected the orthodox and holy bishop Maximus from there. His own punishment made him famous. For having undertaken to perform the episcopal office in the Neapolitan church, his tongue swelled and protruded outside his mouth, nor could it be withdrawn unless Zosimas had departed outside the temple. Whereupon, when Zosimas had attempted a second and a third time to enter the sacred edifice to perform his episcopal duty, he was compelled just as many times at length to yield the bishopric, so that his former use of his tongue might be restored: these are the words of Marcellinus, who soon adds: "We are not reporting ancient matters... for even today Zosimas is in the body, not losing the use of his tongue, after he preferred to live with the loss of the bishopric." This Zosimas might seem to have repented through such an evident miracle, which perhaps was the reason for the anonymous author to speak of his error as something past. Whatever the case may be, we have from these facts that both the holy Zosimas and another of the same name, not a holy one, lived at the same time—that is, toward the end of the fourth century. This, indeed, pertains to this hieromonk, the blessed Abbot Zosimas. For when our Daniel Papebrochius, in Tome I of April, page 68, cleverly demonstrates from the character of the Paschal date that St. Mary of Egypt died on the first of April, the Parasceve of Pascha in the year of Christ 432, after she had received the day before, from Zosimas who was about seventy years old, the holy viaticum of the body and blood of Christ, it is manifest that he not only lived many years before the five-hundredth year of the Christian era, but also had most holily cultivated the ascetic life in his earlier monastery at Tyre, from which—before he migrated to another toward the Jordan—he himself, as we saw earlier, testifies that he had exercised the religious life for fifty-three years. The entire context of Zosimas's *Alloquia* confirms this chronology. For there, both Evagrius (not the Origenist, but another, more ancient and most holy disciple of Macarius), and Pachomius, and others of equal antiquity are named as men of recent memory; but also, since other things are brought forward from the *Vitae* and *Acta Patrum*, nothing at all is produced that is earlier than the year of Christ 550. From these, correct what our Rosweydus, deceived by a corrupt transcript of the *Acts of Mary of Egypt* published under the false name of Sophronius, annotated in the *Vitae Patrum* page 299 with these words: "Mary of Egypt flourished in the times of Justin the Elder around the year of our Lord 520." For that this suffers from a metachronism of almost an entire century is learnedly demonstrated by the aforementioned Papebrochius, whom see in Tome I of April from page 67 to 70. Therefore, by our right, we join this Opusculum, which contains the *Alloquia* of the blessed Zosimas, immediately to the former, which has St. Amphilochius, Bishop of Iconium, as its author, having followed the order of the times in which the lives of both are arranged in such a way that they shared some common years, with the old age of Amphilochius coinciding with the youth of Zosimas.

It will not be irrelevant here, at the end, to admonish that John Moschus, the author of the famous book already long praised by the Sixth General Synod, which is titled the *Spiritual Meadow*, undoubtedly saw these *Alloquia* of Zosimas. For in chapter 211, he describes the tenth of them, referencing from there in almost as many words the history of the monk who, having clearly seen his cell being plundered by a neighboring monk, most patiently tolerated it, even after he heard that that most wicked thief had been brought to the judge for that crime.

to be held in prison, first brought to him the alms collected for his sustenance, and then obtained his release from the judge. The only difference is that while Zosimas says the elder asked for eggs and *cathara*, which he might bring to the prisoner, Moschus, in their place, puts "some food," perhaps avoiding the necessity of explaining what *cathara* were. I have found this word defined in no glossaries, and when I questioned Greeks in Italy about it, I heard them admit that they were entirely ignorant of what it might signify; thus, I have been forced to leave the word itself, expressed in Latin letters, in my translation. The same Moschus, in chapter CCXII, transcribes from the Thirteenth Discourse two examples of holy elders offering all their possessions to robbers of their own accord, with the only difference being that he interprets the word ^A *scalidion* as "a hanging purse," which is less skillful, since the ancient scholiast of Theocritus, in his explanation of Idyll X, explains the word *scalis* as an agricultural tool—whence I have translated it as a "hoe"—not to mention the improbability of counting a purse among the movable goods of a monastic cell, especially since he adds "hanging," which, had the robbers seen it at once, they would have had no need to be told by the holy elder while departing to take what they had left behind through inattention. There is, furthermore, Chapter CCXVI of the *Pratum*, described from the Sixth Discourse of Zosimas. Chapter CCXVIII is from the eleventh, and finally Chapter CCXIX is from the thirteenth. But let this suffice regarding these matters.

XIII. We append close to this the Twelfth Discourse, by Isaac the Syrian, since Possevinus, referencing Gennadius, places him as a contemporary of the emperors Marcian and Leo. He says that, besides many things against heretics, he also wrote on asceticism. Above, in the Ninth Discourse, page 247, mention is made of a certain Isaac who was a disciple of the great Arsenius. He could well be the same person as our author. I have no doubt that those things described below in the Seventeenth Discourse of the monk Nicephorus from Isaac the Syrian belong to this same author of ours. I remember having seen elsewhere in the Vatican Library many excellent works by Isaac ^B the Syrian, which, if they were to appear, would be of great benefit and call for the services of a translator and editor. I place Theodore the Studite immediately after Isaac the Syrian, because I see him among most of the later authors of these *Opuscula* as being of a certain and known age. He lived in the eighth century. Many things that ought to be said about him will be gathered abundantly by the most learned man who is preparing a full and clear edition of all his works.

The Fourteenth *Opusculum* is that of Abbot Isaiah. Others call him Esaias, but I have held to the usage accepted in the Latin Church of pronouncing the name "Isaiah," secure in the Greek manner of writing a word of Hebrew origin. Bellarmine, in his book *On Ecclesiastical Writers*, says that he was unable to discover when he lived. See also Possevinus on the same. Nicephorus the monk also mentions him honorably below in the Seventeenth *Opusculum*.

A Sermon of St. Philotheus on the Commandments of Christ, Opusculum XV

Regarding Theodore, Archbishop of Edessa, the author of the Sixteenth *Opusculum*, it is not known who he was, whence he originated, where he practiced monastic life—which is apparent—before his archbishopric, nor when and on what occasion he was promoted from the monastery to the see of Edessa. Tom. XXII of the most recent Lyons edition of the *Bibliotheca Patrum* shows fifty of his chapters—that is, not even half of his book (which we provide in full)—and they are shown in pure Latin; and it is said in the general index of Tom. I that he flourished in the twelfth century. Indeed, our Theodore could not have lived later than the beginning of that century. For Pope Eugenius III testifies in his letters written to Louis, King of the French, which Baronius cites (Tom. XII, no. XXXI, year 1145), that Edessa was captured by the Saracens in that year, and the archbishop and many others were killed by them. From that time, the see appears to have lain vacant until Edessa was snatched back from the Saracens by the Franks, who thereafter, as long as they reigned at Jerusalem, provided it with Latin archbishops. Nor does it seem likely that the archbishop killed by the Saracens was this very Theodore; for he would have been called a Martyr, whereas in the Turrian codex he is merely inscribed "Our holy father." That he died a natural death before the year 1145 is thus credible, or perhaps even a little further ^C back in time, such that the one whom the Saracens killed as the conquerors of Edessa would not be his immediate successor, but perhaps the second, third, or fourth.

It is reasonable to suppose that the monk Nicephorus, the author of the Seventeenth *Opusculum*—a very useful book—lived in the same age as Theodore of Edessa, since we lack more certain testimony of his deeds and life.

Perhaps the author of the Eighteenth and final *Opusculum* is older, an anonymous monk of the Greek abbey of the Order of St. Basil in the Tusculan territory, founded around the end of the tenth century by St. Nilus the Younger; one of Nilus's disciples was a distinguished enlarger of the same.

^A Benedict IX, though others count him as IX, was created in the year of Christ 1033 through the ambition and faction of his kinsmen, the Counts of Tusculum, while he was still just a boy. He harassed and defiled the Roman Church for twelve years, being finally driven out in the year 1045. See concerning these matters the most recent Roman edition of Ciaconius, Vol. I, from col. 775 to 779. I have decided to place this last in this booklet, as it is not, like the others, didactic and dogmatic, teaching the precepts of ascetic doctrine, but rather demonstrates their practice in the illustrious example of a most famous ascetic. Though there are many others that I could add, I will not add a word, so that the preface does not grow into a book. Farewell, reader, and be favorable. ^B

Provincial Faculty of the Society of Jesus and Communication of Royal Privilege

I, Peter Allemand, Provincial of the Society of Jesus in the Province of Toulouse, according to the privilege granted by the Most Christian Kings Henry III on May 10, 1583, Henry IV on December 20, 1605, Louis XIII on February 14, 1612, and the now reigning Louis XIV on December 23, 1650, by which all booksellers and printers are prohibited from printing books composed by men of the same Society without the permission of the superiors, do give permission to William Bosc to print and sell the book bearing the title *Thesaurus asceticus*, etc., approved by some theologians of our Society. Given at Toulouse on the 21st day of April in the year 1682. Peter Allemand.

Series of Opuscula

I have been pleased to add this censure of the books published by Possinus, which exists in the *Acta Eruditorum Lipsiensium* [prohibited book list from the year 1685 to 1757] for the month of November, 1685, pages 488–491.

*Thesaurus asceticus*, or a collection of eighteen opuscula written long ago by Greek Fathers on the subject of asceticism. These now appear for the first time, unearthed from the most ancient manuscript codices. Collected and translated by Peter Possinus of the Society of Jesus. Paris, at Ant. Dezallier. 1684, in-4.

If those who collect the fragments of pagan writers and arrange for them to be printed for the public are thought to have performed a service of no small value, then those must be judged to have earned an even greater reward for their labor who retrieve from destruction, by the work of the printing press, the fragments of holy men capable of stirring up piety. The most learned Possinus has done this with truly praiseworthy industry. For this *Thesaurus asceticus* contains eighteen opuscula; sixteen of these he transcribed from a very ancient Greek manuscript volume—which contains thirty treatises on asceticism and which was deposited in the professed house at Rome in the year 1566 by Francis Turrianus, when he became a member of the Society of Jesus. The remaining two, namely the Chapters of Saint Theodore the Studite, from an ancient Vatican codex numbered 730, and the Life of Saint Bartholomew, abbot of Grottaferrata, which is the last in this volume, he took from the library of Grottaferrata.

The first of all these Opuscula is the Epistle of Saint John Chrysostom to Monks, inscribed in the Turrianus codex, which he thinks was written while he was living among the monks at Antioch, before he became Bishop of Constantinople. Seven opuscula that are placed after the cited Epistle, such as that On the Custody of the Heart...

^A On Perfection in the Spirit, On Prayer, On Patience and Discretion, On the Elevation of the Mind, On Charity, On the Liberty of the Mind, he attributes to Macarius the Great, just as he had read them signed with this title in the Turrianus codex. On this occasion, he observes that there were two famous Macarii: one, the Egyptian, in Scetis; the other, indeed younger than he, the Alexandrian, who dwelt in the Cellia, both being disciples of the anchorite Antony. But he proves from Athanasius in the *Life of St. Antony* and from Jerome in the *Life of Paul the First Hermit* that there was another Macarius, older than both of them. For these writers say that Antony the Great had two intimate disciples with him—constant companions, Macarius and Amathas—who were witnesses of his death, which occurred in the nineteenth year of Constantius, in the year of Christ 356. However, concerning Macarius the Egyptian, whom they generally place as older than the Alexandrian, the acts confirm that he paid the debt of nature in the year 391, at the age of ninety, after having spent sixty years in the Scetic solitude. Whence it follows that he began the solitary life at Scetis in the year of Christ 334. Since he lived there until the end of his life, it follows that this man was not that Macarius who was a colleague of Amathas and the inseparable companion of Antony the Great, whom the latter—as he was departing in the year of Christ 341 to spend the remainder of his life in the inner mountain—had ordered to be always at his side, ^B in a place near him, that is, in the outer mountain, until the end. Possinus therefore decides that the companion of Amathas was the author of both the fifty Homilies which are published under the name of Macarius and the seven Opuscula that were just mentioned. And for this reason, he refutes John Pico, who published them after rendering them into Latin, and who attributed them to Macarius the Egyptian, dweller in the Scetic solitude, by relying on the contrary testimony of Gennadius of Marseilles. Furthermore, to prevent anyone from thinking that the younger Macarius—commonly called the Alexandrian after the city in which he was born—was the author of them, he denies that this man wrote anything that has come into light and fame, because Sozomen (Book III, chap. 13), Socrates (Book IV, chap. 18), and Nicephorus (Book IX, chap. 14), who as usual drew from them where this Macarius is concerned, mention nothing of his writings; nor has any other writer, whether ancient or modern, attributed these booklets to him. For this reason, he vindicates the aforementioned Homilies, together with these seven Opuscula, as being most anciently the work of the intimate and constant minister of Antony the Great, in such a way, indeed, that he makes him not so much their author as their interpreter. For he says that Macarius, having heard them from his master Antony speaking in Coptic, rendered them into Greek for the sake of the monks and delivered them as a discourse; whence the name of Macarius was prefixed to them. Indeed, what Possinus inserts here concerning Macarius the Alexandrian—that he wrote nothing that has become known to the learned—we know to be otherwise from an ancient manuscript codex of our Lipsian Academy Library, which is called the Paulina. For among its various manuscripts, the catalog of which our Academic librarian, the most distinguished man L. I. Feller, published with singular industry, there exists a manuscript of Macarius the Alexandrian marked with this title: *Τοῦ ἁγίου Μακαρίου τοῦ ᾿Αλεξανδρέως λόγος περὶ ἐξόδου ψυχῆς δικαίων καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν, τὸ πῶς χωρίζονται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος καὶ πῶς εἰσιν*, that is: *Discourse of St. Macarius the Alexandrian on the departure of the soul of the just and the sinners, [and] in what manner they are separated from the body and how they exist.* This I was pleased to mention here in passing. As for the rest, Possinus rightly noted at the same time the flaw of Macarius regarding the corporeality of angels and souls, which occurs in the sixth Opusculum of this "Treasure," p. 121, and in his third Homily. The ninth opusculum of this "Treasure" is the *Apophthegmata of the Fathers*, collected by an anonymous writer. The tenth, *On Not Despairing*, bears the name of St. Amphilochius, with mention of the Iconian episcopate over which he presided omitted because, as Possinus thinks, this commentary was written by Amphilochius while he was still a monk. Cf. Amphilochius’ *Works*, published forty-one years ago in Paris in both Greek and Latin, p. 91 sqq., where the address *On Penance* is read, as well as [the treatise] *On the fact that one must not despair of one's own salvation*. The eleventh opusculum, which contains the fourteen *Colloquies of the Blessed Abbot Zosimas*, celebrated for his holiness, the editor himself greatly commends, proving at the same time that this Zosimas is the same man as that most celebrated person who knew the life of the holy penitent Mary of Egypt and cared for her funeral. Afterward follows the little book of Isaac the Syrian ^C *On Thoughts*, the author of which records that he had seen many of his excellent works [which were] not yet edited in the Vatican library. To this he adds the *Chapters* of St. Theodore the Studite, who lived in the eighth century, which make up the thirteenth Opusculum. The author refrained from prefacing much about this, because a most learned man was preparing a full and elegant edition of all his works. There exist elsewhere in our Paulina Library two hundred and twenty Greek sermons of this man, together with his Greek *Testament* to his disciples, and an Epistle in Greek MS to the spiritual Brothers and Fathers scattered here and there by Naucratius, son of Studites, who calls himself a "sinful monk." However, in this "Treasure" the Opusculum of Abbot Isaiah, or Esaia, has the name of fourteen *Chapters* inscribed on it, concerning the time of whose life Bellarmine writes in *De Script. eccl.* that he could not find out when he lived. Nevertheless, the monk Nicephorus mentions him below in the seventeenth Opusculum. The sermon of St. Philotheus *On the Commandments of Christ*, which is the fifteenth Opusculum, is added; the author proves by three arguments that this is different from the one that Spondanus mentions in his *Continuation* for the years 1350, 1354, and 1362. He refers the age of St. Theodore, Archbishop of Edessa, who is called the author of the following, sixteenth Opusculum, to the beginning of the twelfth century. In Volume XXII of the Library of the Fathers of the latest edition of Lyons, fifty of his chapters exist in Latin. But Possinus exhibits one hundred and two here in Greek and Latin. The most distinguished editor makes the monk Nicephorus, author of the Opusculum *On the Custody of the Heart*, which is the penultimate one here, a contemporary of Theodore of Edessa. Finally, the author of the last Opusculum, *On the Life of St. Bartholomew*, is celebrated as an anonymous monk of a Greek monastery of the order of St. Basil in the Tusculan territory, founded by St. Nilus the Younger toward the end of the tenth century. Subjoined to these eighteen mentioned Opuscula is a copious and sufficiently accurate index of subjects.

PREFACE OF JOHN GEORGE PRITIUS

To the Chancellor and secret councilor, and president of the sacred consistory, most eminent, and my singular patron, Carl Wilhelm, to whom John Georg Pritius offers this most holy Father Macarius, and himself, with the most dutiful care and study.

^A Illustrious sir! Since by the singular providence of the most good and great God, and by the command and under the auspices of the most serene Prince Carl Wilhelm, but also by your own counsel, I was meditating on my departure from Leipzig—the dearest of all countries—to being summoned to the people of Zerbst, I judged it proper to lead with me that venerable companion, Macarius the Egyptian, a man incomparable among the Fathers of the Christian Church for the praise of a more solid piety and for a living knowledge of spiritual things. For whom shall we suggest, who, unless he has been specially made a partaker of the divine mysteries by the grace of the Holy Spirit, has written more solidly concerning the most excellent superiority of the soul, concerning the most miserable fall of man, concerning the extreme depravity of men lying in sins, concerning the most dangerous ambushes and machinations of infernal enemies against the human mind, concerning the most sweet guidance of the divine Spirit, concerning the grace of God, ^B and the distinction of grace from nature, and the whole economy of our salvation, than that veteran among the ministers of Christ the Savior, Macarius? And to whom should I bring such a man into hospice, if not to you, most excellent sir? Seeing that you, for the unusual skill in divine matters in which you abound, are of all men the most qualified to judge what price is to be placed upon such excellent souls. And he who has known this, how eagerly and zealously you once devoted yourself to our sacred studies, how ample the faculties of interior divine wisdom you possess, how you excel in the singular integrity of your morals, and with how great love you are carried toward sincere piety and its followers, will gladly acknowledge and proclaim it together with me. For I indeed had this reason for handing over our divine Macarius into your protection, now appearing in public, through our own vigils, a little more polished, in order that I might also in this way present myself to you, illustrious sir, for perpetual service, and that there might exist some document of my grateful mind toward you: to whom I especially refer it as a favor, that at your Zerbst, both in the church and in the public chair, the faculty has been granted to me of teaching those things which are necessary and useful for the Christian people and the studious youth for rightly entering upon and cultivating the Christian life and for acquiring true erudition; a kind of life in which I myself have for many years now been most vehemently delighted. Receive therefore, illustrious sir, this new guest, with that countenance with which, composed to the most sweet kindness—a gift bestowed upon you favorably by nature, and increased greatly by an elegant manner of living—you most benignly admit not the learned only, but especially the followers of piety, into your sight. Receive also me into your favor, who strive zealously for this, that I might always satisfy those duties to which I have been assigned by your kindness, and further, in whatever offices I may, I am most ready to adorn you, most eminent sir. Farewell. At Leipzig, on my departure, October 1, in the year of our Redeemer 1698.

^C To the kind reader, John Georg Pritius, Licentiate of Sacred Theology and Public Professor, says greetings.

We publish here, what God grant may be auspicious, the Homilies of Macarius, most ancient of the Fathers, for the benefit of those who are students of the Church and of true piety, items replete with fruit of the best sort and encompassing most divine mysteries. Concerning which new edition, so that the reader may be a little more accurately informed, there are some things, albeit very briefly, to be premised before he is admitted to the reading of this most useful book. We have indeed repeated the Frankfurt edition, which Zacharias Palthenius had adorned in the ninety-fourth year of the previous century; but we have labored that it might appear a little more polished. For we have reviewed the Greek text with accurate study, having removed the errors which here and there had crept into the former edition. Where indeed it would have been our wish that a manually written codex had existed to our hand, since in some places it was sufficiently manifest that the reading of the printed book was in error. This could be shown in many places, but let one suffice as a specimen. In Homily X, page 221 of the Frankfurt edition, it is read without any sense, *ἐκπεινεῖ καὶ ἐκδιψῇ ὑπάρχουσι*, in whose place we have substituted *ἐν πείνῃ καὶ δίψῃ ὑπάρχουσι*. Although it could be read no less congruously as *ἔκπεινοι καὶ ἔκδιψοι*, which words occur a little later in the context itself. Where, therefore, it was both manifest that the words of the author were corrupt, and the reason for the amendment was also manifest, we attempted to restore the author to himself. In some places, however, the diligence of Cotelier has served us, noting from time to time variant readings from manuscript codices in the *Ecclesiae Graecae Monumenta*, which saw the light at Paris, which we have either received into the text or noted to the side. ^D The Latin version was in a most miserable state, so much so that in many places it was horrible with foul jargon and barbarisms, nor did it very often express the true sense of Macarius. We have therefore given our effort, both that the interpreter might be a little more Latin, and that he might more faithfully exhibit what the author himself felt in his own speech. Although not even so can we promise that there remains nothing in the version further that deserves to be amended, since it is very difficult so fully to remove the sins of others that no blemish might any longer appear. And to me, indeed, it seemed far easier that a new version should be composed than to correct that old one, which is incongruous in so many places and responds badly to the mind of the author. We have divided the text into sections, following the German interpreter in that matter, so that, evidently, those who wish to compare the German idiom with the Greek speech of the author may be able to find what they seek with easier effort, and that otherwise no confusion might arise from it. Although we do not deny that, if it had been granted to us to use our own liberty here, we would not infrequently have followed a different method of distinction. We have indeed retained the arguments prefixed to the homilies themselves, although they are not of Macarius himself, but of some other author, most often ineptly proposing the mind of Macarius.

and quite often noting, with untimely censure, the author himself, whom he does not even understand. Meanwhile, we do not deny that the summary of the homilies could have been rendered much more succinctly and accurately. Finally, the index has been increased and made more orderly in many places. So that now, indeed, it may be hoped that the labors of this most holy Father may be turned to great profit by the hands of students. But as for those things which pertain to Macarius's own fatherland, his race, his manner of life, his style of writing, and the summary of his understanding of divine things—as great as can be conceived—and many other matters, we shall discourse at greater length upon these when we order these Homilies to follow the Opuscula of Macarius, which were first presented to us some years ago at Toulouse from manuscripts by Peter Possinus, a man of the Society of Jesus. Meanwhile, may the reader fare well, and may he be most assuredly persuaded that we shall fulfill the things we have promised, and that we shall do so very shortly. I was hastening at Leipzig at the beginning of the autumn fairs of the year of restored salvation 1698.

The Arguments of the Individual Homilies of Blessed Macarius.

I. Allegorical interpretation of the vision described in Ezekiel. 1 II. On the kingdom of darkness, that is, sin, and that man is freed from it by the benefit of God alone. 22 III. On the quiet conversation of the brethren among themselves, and the interior battle. 29 IV. In what manner one ought to advance in the Christian life. 37 V. How much the life of Christians differs from the life of other men. 72 VI. On the method of praying. 90 VII. On the clemency of Christ toward men; it also contains answers to certain questions that are perhaps curious. 99 VIII. On those things which happen to Christians while praying. 106 IX. That the divine promises and prophecies are fulfilled through various successes and temptations, and that by cleaving to God alone we are freed from the infestation of demons. 113 X. That the gifts of divine grace are retained and increased by humility and alacrity, but are lost by pride and sloth. 126 XI. That the power of the Holy Spirit in the heart of man is like fire. 132 XII. On the state of Adam after the image of God was lost. 151 XIII. What fruit God requires from a Christian. 171 XIV. That those who dedicate themselves to God do not do so without the hope of reward. 173 XV. How holily and chastely the soul of a Christian ought to conduct itself toward Christ its spouse. 181 XVI. That spiritual men are subject to temptations and afflictions, the origin of which is the first sin. 240 XVII. On the spiritual anointing and glory of Christians. 257 XVIII. On the treasure of Christians, which is Christ and the Holy Spirit, exercising them in various ways for the attainment of perfection. 274 XIX. A Christian who wishes to advance to everything that is good ought to compel himself by force. 287 XX. Christ alone healed the soul, which He clothed with the ornament of His grace. 298 XXI. A double war lies upon the Christian man, external and internal. 307 XXII. On the double state of the departed. 313 XXIII. Only those can wear the royal diadem who are of royal seed. 314 XXIV. The state of Christians is similar to trade and fermentation. 318 XXV. Through disobedience we have been reduced into slavery, from which we are freed by the mystery of the cross; also on the efficacy of tears and divine fire. 325 XXVI. On the dignity, faculty, and operations of the soul; and in what manner it is tempted by the devil and freed from him. 338 XXVII. He pursues the dignity and state of the Christian man, and his free will, with useful questions interspersed meanwhile. 367 XXVIII. Describes and deplores the calamity of the soul in which Christ does not dwell on account of sin. 394 XXIX. God bestows His grace in a twofold manner, the fruit of which He eventually reaps by just judgment. 401 XXX. The soul must be reborn of the Holy Spirit to enter the kingdom of God, and how this happens. 411 XXXI. The faithful must be changed in mind and gather all thoughts unto God, upon whom divine service truly depends. 422 XXXII. The glory of Christians currently lies hidden in their souls, which will emerge at the time of the resurrection and will illuminate the bodies in its own way. 430 XXXIII. How attentively and diligently one ought to pray. 443 XXXIV. On the glory of Christians not unknown to them. 447 XXXV. On the old and new Sabbath. 452 XXXVI. The glory of those who rise is diverse. 455 XXXVII. On paradise and the spiritual law. 457 XXXVIII. Exact judgment is needed in discerning true Christians, and who they may be. 470 XXXIX. For what purpose divine Scripture has been given to us by God. 475 XL. The interconnection of virtues among themselves, and likewise of vices. 477 XLI. How deep are the penetralia of the soul, which gradually receives the increments of grace or vices. 485 XLII. Not external things, but internal ones promote or damage man, such as the Spirit of grace or the spirit of wickedness. 488 XLIII. On the progress of the Christian man, whose entire strength depends upon the heart, as is variously described here. 491 XLIV. How great a change and renewal Christ makes in the Christian man, who has healed the diseases of the soul. 502 XLV. That man has been healed by no arts or works of this world, but by the advent of Christ alone; this homily relates his great kinship with God. 513 XLVI. On the difference between the word of God and the word of the world, and between the children of God and the children of this world. 523

^B XLVII. Allegorical explanation of certain things done under the law. 530 XLVIII. On perfect faith in God. 547 XLIX. It is not enough to have left the delights of this world, unless one also attains the blessedness of the next world. 554 L. It is God who works miracles through His saints and through creation. 561

[There follow Homilies 1-566, then an Index of matters and propositions contained in the Homilies of Blessed Macarius, arranged in alphabetical order.]

PREFACE OF THE SAME

TO THE EDITION OF THE SMALLER WORKS OF ST. MACARIUS OF EGYPT

INSCRIBED:

*Smaller Works and Apophthegmata of the Holy Father Macarius of Egypt. Io. Georgius Pritius has revised them, zealously amended the Latin version, and edited them with added indices. With the Privilege of His Royal Majesty of Poland and Elector of Saxony. Leipzig, at the Grossian Bookstore. Printed by Christoph Fleischer. In the year 1699.*

To the magnificent Adrian Steger, Doctor of Laws, assessor of the electoral tribunal, and consul of the city of Leipzig, a man most grave and presently governing, who has deserved most splendidly of his fatherland, Io. Georgius Pritius, a perpetual admirer of so great a name, dedicates these monuments of Macarius, revised and amended by himself.

Magnificent Sir! ^C When, but a short while ago, we were causing the Homilies of Macarius to appear in a more polished state through our humble efforts, we pledged our word that within a short time the remaining works of Macarius would likewise be forthcoming, amended by us in equal measure. Since we have now determined in our spirit to fulfill this debt, as a good debtor should, you, sir, of most ample and illustrious authority, came first to mind, to whose protection this, whatever it may be, ought to be committed. These *Smaller Works* and sayings of Macarius breathe piety everywhere, a heavenly virtue which is so much a matter of your heart and care that it would by no means suffice for you to flourish in the great praise of civil prudence and to possess the abundant riches of all wisdom, unless you also joined to these the most exquisite goods in which you abound—goods which cease to be goods if they do not have piety as their companion, or more rightly, their guide. I remember, and not without pleasure do I remember, that most wise discourse which I once had the good fortune to draw from your sapient lips when I was saluting you respectfully for the sake of duty; for when you were discoursing most elegantly upon the cultivation of a pursuit of piety that is upright and not ambitious, you ^D admonished me most timely and gravely that the purity of faith must be guarded with care, and yet at the same time the holiness of life must be cultivated with more fervor than is commonly the practice. I confess, in truth, that by these words of yours I was remarkably confirmed in my resolve of spirit to embrace the pursuit of virtue and to hold a right sense regarding the controversies that arise. At the same time, I marveled that a man entangled in civil affairs and occupied daily in the republic could discourse so promptly, so exquisitely, and so solidly upon divine matters as well. But this is the rule of great men, whom the concern for their own happiness occupies: that they judge all things to be light—to shine with the highest honors, to overflow with everything that is considered good, to be instructed in the most excellent sciences—unless they also more solicitously investigate the mode of serving the Deity, and, once investigated, hold onto it no less diligently. I do not think, therefore, that this little gift, the *Macarian Smaller Works*, will be displeasing to you, since, if the monuments of any man’s genius contain divine things and good fruits that shall endure even into eternal life, these contain them most abundantly. It is not unknown to me how much you now take delight in such volumes, especially as your declining age invites you to the meditation of our departure hence to the blessed life, so that whenever it pleases God to call you to those happy realms of His, He may find you in all moments most prepared to enter upon the final journey. For my part, I pray from my heart that the most benign Deity may long preserve you, most noble sir, valid in both body and soul, among all the many excellencies by which my Leipzig shines to the envy of others; for thus the interests of my fatherland, even though I am absent, will continue to be cared for, and your merits will be increased more and more intensely. Regarding your favor, so often demonstrated to me by you and your entire most noble lineage, the most constant benevolence of your spirit, which I shall certainly endeavor to compensate with religious prayers and to nourish with the promptitude of service in whatever way I can, allows me no longer to doubt. Farewell. Leipzig, on the 10th of March, in the year of our Redeemer 1699.

PREFACE OF JOHANN GEORG PRITIUS, LICENTIATE OF SACRED THEOLOGY AND PUBLIC PROFESSOR, TO THE MACARIAN WORKS

I. Since all the monuments of that most holy Father, the greatest by that name in the Church, the great Macarius, which could be found—though full of the most divine wisdom—as they have been collected by us and revised with no small amount of study, are now coming forth into public view, we deem it to be in the reader's interest that not only what pertains to Macarius himself, but also what pertains to his works and that singular method of teaching which is so admirable in him, and finally, the effort we have expended in order that he be presented whole to the learned world, should be exhibited in this vestibule, as it were; a thing which we promised quite recently, when we ordered this second part to precede the Homilies.

II. Moreover, one may see that two persons, especially distinguished by this name, appear in history as it sets forth ecclesiastical persons and matters, one of whom they call Macarius the Egyptian, and the other the Alexandrian; but both, as the ancient Menologium holds, were illustrious for their monastic exercise, their life, their character, their admirable ^A abstinence, and their miracles. Nor less does Socrates, the founder of ecclesiastical history, report that there were two men among the monks at the same time, beloved of God, both by the name of Macarius, one from upper Egypt, the other Alexandrian, both illustrious in many things, and especially for their abstinence, their conduct, their character, and the miracles which were wrought by their hands.

III. Ancient testimonies declare that one of these was a disciple of that great Antony, the primary author of monastic discipline: but which of these it was, whether the Egyptian or the Alexandrian, the matter, it seems, has not yet been settled by the authors; for which reason it has also been impossible to pronounce anything certain regarding the birthday that should be separately assigned to each. For while the ancient Martyrologies have indeed inserted two Macarii into their calendars, and surely mention one as having been a disciple of the blessed Antony, they do not equally add which of the two mentioned by us he was. For thus the Roman Martyrology, not only the old one but also that of Bellinus, simply calls the second of January blessed Macarius, while the fifteenth of the same month it calls Macarius the abbot, a ^B disciple of Antony, who is testified to be sacred and holy. Although Galesinius and Baronius in their Martyrologies add the epithet "Alexandrian" to the former, so that one might conjecture the latter to be the Egyptian. Conversely, however, Palladius, when he treats of Macarius the Egyptian, so far from remembering that he was a disciple of Antony, rather refers that to Macarius the Alexandrian. This matter, therefore, seems to be uncertain, unless someone might allow himself to be persuaded with Petrus Possinus that both were not falsely called disciples of Antony, inasmuch as they had seen and heard him—though they were young and he was senior—and only late at length and incidentally, when they had set out to him for a brief veneration, soon to return again to their own habitations, which were situated very far from the station of Antony. And surely we do not see what stands in the way, since the Macarii lived at the same time as Antony, and had aimed for a life given to most holy meditations, of which institute Antony was the prince, why it could not be believed that these men, most studious of the more rigid discipline, betook themselves to him, so that they might be confirmed in the purpose of life which they had undertaken by a man illustrious for the reputation of his sanctity.

IV. But it is better to look at each one more distinctly. Macarius, therefore, whom they call the Egyptian and the elder, drew his origin from the Thebaid region. While he was in the flower of his age and still a young man, he embraced the study of virtue, and applied himself to such an austere kind of life that he was nicknamed *paidariogeron* (a boy-old man) by the monks. When he was already forty years old, he was consecrated a presbyter. He spent sixty years in solitude; and finally, when he had almost completed ninety years of living, he returned his soul, freed from bodily fetters, to God around the year 391. All who make mention of him—Jerome in particular, Palladius, and Sozomen—report that he was illustrious for many miracles.

V. Furthermore, it is very common habitually to add the epithet "the Great" to his name, I believe not merely in imitation of that great Antony, whom they were accustomed to call "the Great" without any addition, so that, since Macarius was most similar to him in every praise, he too might be distinguished with the same title as such a great father; but especially this happens ^D [continuing...]

^A because of the man’s immense merits and his singular excellence in doctrine and sanctity, in which virtues he shone in a marvelous way.

VI. The desert, in which he occupied himself with the study of divine things and with celestial contemplations, was Scetis, which you may see referred to repeatedly by various names: Scetica, Scetina, Scetiaca, Scytica, Scytiaca, and Scytiotica. This was indeed the solitude of Egypt, most densely populated by a confluence of men who strove for sanctity. For Cassiodorus is a witness ^B that in this desert of Scetis there were the most excellent fathers of the monks and the moral perfection of all the saints. But whoever wishes to hear from the narrator himself the occasion upon which he retreated to this place will be able to consult Macarius.

VII. But we must also say something about Macarius the Alexandrian. They call him the younger and the "politician": the younger, because he survived that Macarius of Egypt, finally dying in the year 404, having lived for 100 years. He is called a "politician" because he did not spend his life after he had embraced the monastic way of life strictly in the solitude of Nitria, to which he had retired, but because he would sometimes come into the city, having spent a large part of his life in the light and before the eyes of men. He is said to have received baptism in the fortieth year of his age and later became a priest and archimandrite of Nitria. When he agreed with Macarius of Egypt in that he loved solitude and was most addicted to the study of a more severe discipline and a holier life, he differed from him greatly in this part: in that he would receive those visiting him with a cheerful face and delight them with witty conversations, attracting younger men to the cultivation of the monastic life by a certain urbanity; whereas in the Egyptian this was otherwise. Yet no lesser things are reported about his virtues, his most frugal manner of living, and his miracles than about the Egyptian, all of which anyone who wishes to read described, let him unfold Palladius. ^C

VIII. Petrus Possinus, however, produces a third Macarius, different from both of those mentioned, and older than both of them, a disciple and companion of Anthony, and a partner of Amathas, whom he strives with great effort to prove is the author of the Macarian Works. He uses as an argument to prove this matter the fact that Athanasius in the *Life of Anthony* and Jerome in the *Life of Paul* record that Anthony had two intimate disciples and inseparable companions with him, Macarius and Amathas. But he notes that the consideration of time does not allow for this to fit either the Egyptian or the Alexandrian Macarius. We admit that this argument seemed of such great moment to William Cave, a man most learned in ecclesiastical antiquities, that he agreed with Possinus, especially when he noted that Oudinus also echoed him. Meanwhile, having weighed the matter better, that most erudite man is now possessed of another mind, so that he is by no means willing to admit any third Macarius beyond the Egyptian and the Alexandrian. And certainly, which was also observed by Cave, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, and Palladius, who lived in these very places and at this time, do not present to us other Macarii who were disciples of Anthony, even though they commented diligently on these matters. Nor, indeed, is there any reason why anyone should allow himself to be moved by the things that Possinus alleges. For as regard his citing Athanasius for his cause, he is himself deceived in this, and deceives others, since there is plainly nothing in Athanasius concerning such a Macarius. Likewise, Jerome does indeed mention Macarius and Amathas as disciples of Anthony, and says that Amathas buried his master; but he teaches nothing further about Macarius. And why, out of these two Macarii, who it is agreed by the confession of all did exist, one could not have been a companion of Anthony, we cannot yet perceive. Macarius the Egyptian lived for sixty years in the solitude of Scetis: shall we think that for that entire time he was fixed in one place and never traveled elsewhere? Yet it is established that those who love the solitary life have frequently changed their abodes. What hinders, therefore—which not even Possinus denies—that Macarius should have betaken himself to Anthony from time to time, to draw most healthy precepts from his own mouth? Whom he also, when it happened that he should die, accompanied and honored with a burial along with Amathas, ^D at the time he was present. Nor indeed does Sozomen record that Macarius spent sixty years in one Scetis, but in solitude. Similar things could easily be proven regarding the Alexandrian Macarius if we wished to do so. Therefore, let each Macarius keep his own affairs to himself, brought forward by Possinus without necessity and contrary to the veracity of history; as for us, the two Macarii suffice, under the name of one of whom these works which now see the light are circulated.

IX. But now it will be necessary to consider more exactly to which of them these offspring are to be ascribed? And it is manifest that the Homilies ascribed to the Egyptian have always been so, from the inscription which both the hand-written and the printed copies show. But this does not please Possinus either, who strives to vindicate them for the Macarius he has invented for himself, aside from the facts. He appeals to the authority of Gennadius of Marseilles, who says that only one Macarius wrote a letter to the younger members of his profession. But we cannot yet be persuaded to agree with Possinus; nor do the words of Gennadius suffice to prove what Possinus wants, since

^A these might be taken in a sense that they only concern the writings composed by Macarius. What if Macarius also wrote some things that have not, like so many others, met the eyes of Gennadius? Hence there will be no need for us to fabricate many things, as Possinus does, regarding the occasion or the office through which Macarius is supposedly said to have produced those Homilies in Greek, which he had rendered from the dictations of his master Antonius, and as a companion of Amathas.

X. But what are we to say about these Opuscula, which, after Possinus, are now being published by us for the first time in Germany, and to which father shall we attribute these children? For Possinus, here again, sets before us his own Macarius, who, however, as we have already argued, we believe never existed in the world. The most celebrated Cave not unfairly judges that the Opuscula should be attributed to one or the other, but he leans more toward the opinion that they should be assigned to that Alexandrian.

XI. To us, however, it seems most certain before all else that there was one single author who gave us the most divine Homilies, to whom we also owe these Opuscula. The things themselves prove this, as they contain, both in the Homilies and the Opuscula, the highest mysteries of our faith, and the principal heads of the Christian religion, especially those that are to be applied to practice; and the words and modes of expression also reflect a supreme similarity everywhere; and there is an equal form of oratory and dignity of elocution. Furthermore, it can be added that whatever might be missed in Macarius, and whatever blemishes are observed in this most elegant body of work, they present themselves to us in both cases. Since, therefore, we have just recently gone on to assert the Homilies for Macarius the Egyptian, the reason is clear why the Opuscula must also be adjudged to him; especially since the manuscript codices in the Vienna library, as Cave himself teaches, ^C attribute these and similar works to our Macarius. In the very codex that Possinus used, the title "the Great" is expressly joined to the name of Macarius, as the editor admits, a title that is well known to be added most frequently not to the Alexandrian, but to Macarius the Egyptian. For what Possinus attempts to persuade us—that a confusion of persons occurred here—serves his own cause, so that he might with some right ascribe what is owed to Macarius the Egyptian to his own new Macarius, who was unknown to the ancients. Although, in the meantime, we do not wish to deny that there was someone who caught these things, at least from the mouth of the speaker, Macarius: whence we also think that is why the word "they say" occurs so frequently in the Greek, though for the most part omitted in the translation; so that Macarius was indeed the author of everything handed down, even if he did not write them himself.

XII. Let these offspring, therefore, belong, through us, to Macarius the Egyptian. Now let us see by what means they have emerged from the shadows in which they had been enclosed for some centuries. Those ^A spiritual Homilies were published separately in Greek in Paris in the fifty-ninth year of the last century, in very elegant type: but a Latin version also saw the light separately, fashioned, if we are not mistaken, by Johannes Picus. There succeeded, afterwards, the diligence of Zacharias Palthenius, who in the ninety-fourth year of the same century published together both the Greek text and the Latin version—which he had adorned with no small labors—in type slightly smaller, such as our own. The remaining Opuscula, however, remained immersed in their own obscurity for a longer time, until they were brought into the public light by the happy work of Petrus Possinus, a man of the Society of Jesus, in the *Ascetic Thesaurus*, of which they form a primary part. Where he obtained such a treasure, he does not indeed dissimulate. For he recalls that Franciscus Turrianus, a Jesuit of most well-known name, when he entered that society in Rome in the year 1566, brought into the library of the Fathers of the Society, among many Greek volumes which show signs of ancient hands, and which he had deposited in the old house of the Roman profession, one that contained the ascetic lucubrations of nearly thirty authors, inscribed by a trans-marine hand more than five hundred years ago; and from there Possinus, while he was residing in Rome, transcribed these Macarian works, among other things.

XIII. But since those Palthenian Homilies of ours were no longer to be found in the bookshops, and the remaining Opuscula edited by Possinus were rarely seen among us, it seemed that it would be for the benefit of the literary republic, and especially of the studious youth—who work at piety besides the delights of the Greek language—to recall into one body everything that recognizes Macarius as its author—Macarius, I say, whom we judge to be the Egyptian. For the manuscript that exists in the Pauline Library at Leipzig, and was published in Latin both by Guilielmus Cavius and Jacobus Tollius as the *Oratio on the Exit of the Souls of the Just and the Sinners*, is attributed in the title to Macarius of Alexandria, and contains such old-womanish and foolish myths that it seems to be the invention of some more recent Greekling, and therefore could not find a place here.

XIV. What we have achieved concerning the Homilies has been dealt with in the preface to them. Now, however, we must briefly indicate what we have done concerning the Opuscula which follow, and what we have done concerning the Apophthegmata. In those seven Opuscula, since we lacked the manuscripts, we followed the edition of Possinus, having removed, however, the typographical errors that appeared most frequently in the Possinian edition. We found much more to do regarding the Latin version. For Possinus, having followed a freer method of interpreting, wanders away miraculously not infrequently, so that he can be seen to have taken on the role of a commentator rather than an interpreter; which method of proceeding, although

it may be joined with some utility for the reader, nevertheless, he who sets out to convert the speech of another into a different language goes beyond the limits, since without a doubt this is the best type of interpretation, when one adheres as simply as possible to the words of the author, with his mind represented without ambitious digressions here and there. Possinus, however, wanders away very frequently, and furthermore follows a style of speaking that is more pretentious, and rises to higher words, than seemed fitting for an interpreter. ^A We, therefore, have cut away the superfluous, and what was said more pompously, and was inflated by some tumor, we have reduced to modesty, everywhere diligently applying our effort so that the thoughts of Macarius might be exhibited to the readers in words that are clear, plain, and flowing naturally in the Latin language. In this matter, indeed, we had to endure no small difficulties, since it is far less difficult to bring forth one's own things, and to accommodate them to one's own bent, than to be occupied in amending the labors of others. Nor, however, would I have the reader think that nothing remains in the version that smacks of the luxury of Possinus, or that could not have been restored for the better; it was enough for us to accomplish only as much as we have this time, leaving the rest to the judgment of the readers. We owe the Apophthegmata to that most learned man, Jean-Baptiste Cotelier, royal professor of the Greek language at the Paris Academy, which he himself, when he found the manuscripts in the Royal Library, published inserted into Volume I of his *Monumenta Ecclesiae Graecae*, which came out at Paris in the year ^B MDCLXXVII. We have also retained his version, since he himself insists more closely on the words of the authors, and follows a style of writing that is simple, liquid, and alien to every tumor and anxiously sought-after ornamentation. Finally, we have added other Macarian fragments that have presented themselves to us while scanning the authors here and there.

XV. Now let us proceed to examine Macarius himself more closely. It will be able to be clear to everyone, even from the first inspection of his Works, that Macarius was a man as studious of holiness as he was, if anyone else, by far the most expert in divine and spiritual matters, and abundantly adorned with the admirable gifts of divine grace; such men as these are indeed the most suitable of all to imbue others with the light with which they are illuminated by God. If, therefore, there is anyone who, besides having the kernel, is delighted by the outer husk, who is led by the florets of words while despising the matter, who holds in low esteem celestial things with a mind fixed on the earth, to whom it creates nausea to hear anything said about the mortification of the flesh and the perpetual elevation of the mind to God, and who, finally, cares very little about whatever pertains to true and solid piety with devotion: I bid him be certain that he will by no means find here what could help his soul. For he who is not endowed with this frame of mind, such that he sets aside visible things, and with an unmoved purpose of mind is carried toward spiritual and divine things with his desires and all the powers of his soul; ^C and on the contrary, serves perhaps at least his own glory or the delights of life, and greedily pursues comforts, cannot help but find the things that are discussed excellently concerning the business of human salvation and the operation of God in souls, to be either entirely unpleasant and tedious, or clearly unintelligible, which are discussed by souls entirely surrendering themselves to higher thoughts and more copiously illuminated by the divine Spirit. But he who, excited by a more divine impulse, begins to attend to himself, and does so with that care which the sublimity of the matter requires; who, instructed by human nature, which has miserably fallen into sin and is lost, realizes how everything amounts to nothing for the true, constant, and eternal happiness of man; who now solicitously aspires to God, the fountain of all blessedness, and to a closer union with God, and applies himself decently to attaining the salvation of his own soul: he, at last, will find in Macarius the source from which he himself may most abundantly quench his thirst.

XVI. For what else occurs in these things than that most sound and healthful doctrine for every part of Christianity? That the human race, having fallen into sin, is miserably corrupted and deformed, so that men’s minds, already turned away from God, are carried off by the adversarial power of the malignant spirit into great sins of every kind. Hence there is need for divine grace, that the mortal race, so ill-conditioned by sin, might recover. But that this never fails to work potently into the soul of man, so that it, snatched from its adversary, might be asserted into liberty; that man must despair of his own strength unless he is graciously assisted by the celestial Spirit. ^D That Christ was destined by God as a redeemer for mankind, and that He atoned for all men with His shed blood, and is intently focused on the salvation of all men. This Macarius inculcates so frequently and so clearly that Johannes Gerhard Vossius, a man most diligent in unfolding antiquity, in his most learned work on Pelagian History, when he needs to prove this, most frequently cites Macarius as a witness to such salutary doctrine. Moreover, how excellently he teaches with what snares Satan circumvents the souls of men, and how constantly he strives to overturn the salvation of men. How great the struggles are which a man, about to acquire salvation, must sustain, and how vehement and how difficult they are throughout the whole time of life. With what devotion and how ardently prayers must always be poured out to God. How diligently all the desires of the mind must be bound to divine things. And finally, to sum up everything briefly, what nature is and grace, and by what signs each is to be distinguished—which is certainly the most certain of all things for Christians to consist as the pinnacle of wisdom. And indeed, one can hardly find among the ancients any from whom it was possible to learn so clearly the operations and nature of divine grace.

XVII. Yet, if some spots are to be found in this most beautiful body, what wonder is it if Macarius was also a man exposed to the facility of erring? Nor can anyone be set forth from all antiquity who has been devoid of every stain and error! Macarius, therefore, will have established...

^A a point of the Christian religion that cannot be omitted without loss. Since if someone holds correct opinions on the principal and capital heads of most holy faith, it would be wrong if, because of certain things less well said, he were immediately condemned such that his remaining works were also considered erroneous and to be condemned. In which case you often see it happen that things which could be of wonderful utility to the Christian religion, and which could vigorously assist the cause of piety, are disregarded and proscribed along with that very piety.

XVIII. It remains that we submit some testimonies concerning Macarius.

Suidas on Macarius

There were two Macarii of the same name and renowned for their exercises of study, their life, their character, and their discipline. The one, the Egyptian, was a miracle-worker, and with religious caution, he was strict toward those who met with him. The other, the Alexandrian, was in all things similar to the Egyptian, yet humane: he was so humane toward those who met with him that, by using pleasant urbanity, he provoked the youth to their exercises. Evagrius becoming the disciple of these men, practiced philosophy through deeds, having previously been a philosopher by words alone. He was admitted into the order of deacons at Constantinople by Gregory the Theologian; but having also traveled to Egypt and met with the aforementioned men, he emulated their life. By him, very serious and weighty books were written, of which one is entitled *Monakhos*, or *On the Active Life*; another, *Gnostikos*, or *On Those Endowed with the Gift of Knowledge*—the chapters of this book are fifty; the third, *Antirrhetikos*, against the tempting demons, is divided into eight parts, according to the number of the eight ^C thoughts. Also, six hundred *Prognostica Problemata*, and two *Elementaria*, one for monks living in coenobia or communities, the other for a gathering of virgins. And these are his words: "It is necessary that we diligently investigate the ways of the monks who have gone before, and that we be directed by their norm. Many things are indeed both said and done by them, among which someone also said this: that a drier and harsher mode of life, joined with charity, leads the monk more rapidly to the voiding of the passions."

Io. Trithemius, On Ecclesiastical Writers

Macarius the Egyptian Monk, and once a disciple of the blessed Father Anthony, a man devout and of most holy conversation, concerning whom many miracles are told, as well as how he obtained the voices of the dead from their tombs for the confirmation of the faith. He flourished in great sanctity under the Princes Constantine and Constantius in the year of our Lord 350. His deeds are found in the *Lives of the Fathers*. ^D *Mysterium Iniquitatis*, by M. B. F. B., page 209. B. Macarius, a most religious writer, and of whom B. Arndus confirmed to me that it was the case, since he could recite him verbatim with the book put away.

Petrus Poiret, On Superficial Erudition, p. m. 202

The Homilies of Macarius the Egyptian, admirable and abounding in divine wisdom.

XIX. Nothing now remains further, than to ask the benevolent reader not to take it ill if typographical errors happen to occur here and there. For it was not possible to be present for the correction of proofs. But if any errors have presented themselves to one rereading Macarius, we have noted them at the end of the book; let these be removed, if you please, before access is made to reading the book. We pray to God with suppliant prayers, that to the readers of this book

he may deign to impart the grace of His Spirit, and may deign to direct us toward that happiness which is not terminated by any periods of time, ^A by that path which leads to it; and may He deign to draw many to himself by means of Macarius, that instrument which He employed to demonstrate His exuberant spiritual riches, and by his most divine writings, and [lead them] into the straight [path]. We wrote this in Leipzig, our native city, on the 9th day of March in the year of recovered salvation 1715.

SERIES of those things which are contained in this book concerning Macarius.

I. On the Custody of the Heart. 1 II. On Perfection in the Spirit. 33 III. On Prayer. 50 IV. On Patience and Discretion. 70 V. On the Elevation of the Mind. 108 VI. On Charity. 136 VII. On the Liberty of the Mind. 181 VIII. Apophthegmata of Macarius edited by Petrus Possinus. 231 IX. Apophthegmata of Macarius edited by Ioannes Baptista Cotelerius. 235 X. A Narrative about Macarius from Jerome. 270 XI. A Narrative about Macarius from Palladius. 273 XII. Excerpts about Macarius from Cassiodorus. 279 [There follow the Little Works, pp. 1-285, then an Index of matters and words and an Index of the places of Scripture which are incidentally explained in these little works.]

ANDREAE GALLANDII, PRIEST OF THE CONGREGATION OF THE ORATORY, PROLEGOMENA ON THE LIVES AND WRITINGS OF THE SS. MACARII OF EGYPT AND ALEXANDRIA.

[Page III] Of St. Macarius the Egyptian.

I. Macarius the elder, by origin an Egyptian, and having attained the surname of the Great ^B, while still in the flower of his youth, embraced the monastic institute. At which time he so shone in virtues and an austere manner of living, that he was called by the monks [i]paidariogeron[/i], that is, a boy-old-man, because he had progressed in the studies of monastic discipline more swiftly than was expected for his age. Afterwards, however, withdrawing into the deepest solitude, he placed his seat in Scetis. ^C There, distinguished by the excellent contests of a religious life, and divinely enriched with many gifts of grace, at the age of forty he was raised to the priesthood. A contemporary of the Great Athanasius, and also familiar with the Great Antony, he departed from this life a nonagenarian, after he had spent sixty years in the solitary life, according to the testimony of Palladius, who also recounts his remarkable deeds at length. "What shall I say," says Jerome, "of the Macarii, the Arsenii, the Serapiones, and the other pillars of Christ?" His memory is celebrated in the fasti of the Latin Church on the 15th day of January.

II. But the Egyptian Macarius was not only illustrious for the institutes of a holier life, but is also found to have been outstanding in doctrine and primary in his cultivation of knowledge of the sacred scriptures. Circulating under his name are fifty Homilies on the integrity which befits Christians, full of spiritual sap. ^D These were first published from a codex of the Royal Library in Greek and Latin at Paris by Joannes Picus, president of the inquisitorial classes in the Parisian senate; and the same edition was published there a second time in the year 1621, with the works of Gregory Thaumaturgus and Basil of Seleucia. Before that, however, namely in the year 1594, these same Homilies were released a second time from the version of Zacharias Palthenius of Friedberg at Frankfurt. And this later edition, with the Greek text having been especially collated from the manuscript codices which Cotelerius cited in his Monuments of the Greek Church, and with the Palthenian version having been corrected thereafter, was committed again to the press at Leipzig in the year 1698 by Joannes.

Georgius Pritius, having added in addition seven ascetic treatises—which were first brought to light by Petrus Possinus in his *Thesaurus Asceticus*, and to which were appended the Apophthegms of the same holy abbot both from Possinus and from Cotelier, as well as the excerpts concerning our Macarius found in the *Lives of the Fathers* and in Palladius and Cassian—we have therefore resolved that this edition, being more comprehensive and accurate than the others, should be committed to the press.

III. ^B To speak briefly regarding the integrity of the Homilies: not only do printed codices acknowledge Macarius the Egyptian as their author, but so do many manuscripts, which Montfaucon (7) and Fabricius (8) commend. Indeed, no doubt had ever arisen in this matter until it pleased Petrus Possinus to invent another Macarius, distinct from the Egyptian, a companion of Amathas and disciple of the Great Anthony, and to establish him as the father of either the fifty Homilies or the seven ascetic treatises edited by himself (9). But that these views of the learned man are not to be accepted at all is proven by many, notably Cave (10) and Pritius (11), but especially by Tillemont (12). From this, the opinion of Oudin must also be rejected, who imagines that such writings, of which we speak, pertain to Marcus the "Ascetic" or Exercitant, a disciple of the younger Macarius (13). The judgment of these illustrious men seems to be confirmed not least by Joannes, Patriarch of Antioch, in the Oration published by Cotelier. For he says thus (14): "From our divine and holy fathers Athanasius, Basil, Gregory of Nyssa, and others of their times, there were published ascetic and God-inspired books, which commonly set forth the manner of conduct and living, and the entire monastic life and discipline; but there was also composed first in Egypt the greatest book of the holy Elders of Scetis, ^C Thebais, and Libya, containing in alphabetical order their sacred deeds and sayings. But because, through the grace of Christ, many who were also trained in the disciplines and philosophies of the world followed the narrow and strait way and became holy monks, they also wrote not a few divinely inspired books, which are inscribed thus: THE BOOK... OF SAINT MACARIUS," etc. From which you may understand that the wilderness of Scetis is mentioned here, which we learned earlier from Palladius that Macarius the Egyptian inhabited, and that the book of Macarius is commended, which you may rightly ascribe to that same Egyptian abbot. For the other, the Alexandrian, is handed down as having dwelt in the Cells, as we shall soon see.

IV. A similar judgment should also be held regarding the seven ascetic treatises published by Possinus: namely, that they have one and the same author as the one by whom the Homilies were written. For besides the fact that the subjects themselves, which are discussed almost everywhere, betray one author (16), and that indeed Macarius, known as the Great, there is added primarily the trust of the manuscript codex which Possinus used, as he himself testifies in these words (15): "Seven," he says, "treatises belong to one author, Macarius the Great, ^D just as the title of each clearly marked in the Turrian codex. They were not, however, set forth there in one continuous flow, but were divided separately into two systems of the same name, with many things interspersed. For the first of these was prefixed the index: *Macarius the Great on the Custody of the Heart* (17)," etc.

But it must not be hidden here what Labbe (18) reported to the public from the *Expurgatory Index* of Joannes Maria Brasichellanus. The text stands as follows: "We observe conveniently that there are in them [the Homilies] certain obscure, ambiguous things, and in some measure alien to the proper and exact manner of speech of the theologians, and therefore they should be read with judgment and circumspection. And there is a suspicion that they may have been interpolated in some places by some Pelagian." So much for that. One should not be reluctant to consult the aforementioned Tillemont (19) on this passage, and first of all the editor of the treatises himself, Possinus (20).

V. Furthermore, it is in our interest to observe a few other things concerning these same Homilies of Macarius. And first, that Homily XXV under the title *On Free Will* was formerly listed among the Basilian works, as the learned Bengel (21) rightly understood. Nor did Combefis discern this, who therefore, thinking it to be an integral product of Basil the Great, interwove it into his Greek *Ecclesiastes* (22). However, Garnier, the most learned editor of the works of Basil, although he did not acknowledge the Great Macarius as the legitimate parent of the praised homily, nevertheless demonstrated through many arguments drawn from the context and style that it had been falsely ascribed to Saint Basil (23); and he therefore relegated it to the appendix (24). But the sharp...

^A critics feel pleased to soften their censure with a milder judgment, which the illustrious Tillemont offered after Dupin in these words: “The style is simple, and one sees without difficulty that it is a solitary who speaks from the heart, without affectation, without ornament, and sometimes even without order (25).” It must be further noted that the homily from the Macarian collection XXXVII, inscribed *On Paradise and the Spiritual Law*, was woven in its entirety into the preface to the ascetic *Opuscula* of Mark the Hermit. If this observation, which has been current up until now, had been known to certain learned men in an earlier age or in our own, they would not have pronounced so confidently, as I believe, that they had detected certain homilies of other writers inserted into the Macarian ones, nor would they have so readily admitted and harbored suspicions regarding their legitimate author, Macarius of Egypt.

VI. As for the rest, Millius (26) observes various things regarding the passages of the New Testament cited by Macarius, which there is neither time nor inclination to examine here. But the opinion which Weststein (27) puts forward on this very matter without any support—namely, that the passages of sacred Scripture in the published codices of Macarius have been adapted or rather distorted to conform to the Latin Vulgate—does not meet with our approval, nor does it seem acceptable to anyone who thinks rightly. For as to his claim that no one among the Greeks ever read *Memphres* at II Timothy III, 8, I would certainly wish he had not said that. For such a reading is acknowledged by the *Apostolic Constitutions* (28), the author of the *Synopsis of Sacred Scripture* attributed to the great Athanasius (29), and Antiochus the Monk (30), although, not to dissemble, the same person reads *Iannes* elsewhere (31), to omit for now Origen’s interpreter on Matthew (32) and other ancients, whom you may see in Cotelier (33), Fabricius (34), and Wolf (35). What more need be said? We find that even Wetstein himself later changed his opinion, for he includes our Macarius (36) among the Greek ecclesiastical writers who are known to have read *Memphres* at the cited passage of the Apostle. But enough of these matters.

II. Of Saint Macarius of Alexandria.

I. Macarius the Younger, an Alexandrian by birth, was contemporary with Macarius of Egypt but survived him; he first devoted himself to monastic discipline, having used Great Antony as his master. Later, however, he was ordained presbyter of the Cells, *tôn legomenôn Kelliôn*, as Palladius (37) attests; and finally, he was archimandrite of Nitria. Mention of the Cells is also made in the *Apophthegmata Patrum* (38): *ên tis gerôn eis ta Kellia*. It is, as Cotelier (39) says, a famous place in the desert of Egypt, named the Cells, *Cellae*, or *Cellulae* from the multitude of cells. That this same Macarius was called *politikos*, that is, “of the city,” is recorded by the ancients: Sozomen (40), the collector of the *Apophthegmata Patrum* (41), and also Philippus Sidetes (42), who provides that he had presided over the catechetical school of Alexandria on account of his singular learning. Indeed, he is considered to have been called *politikos* in this sense: not that he dwelt in the desert as other ascetics were wont to do, but that he spent his life partly in solitude and partly *en tê polei*, in the city, namely Alexandria, as a teacher of catechesis. His illustrious deeds are described in detail by Palladius (43), who knew him well; and he testifies elsewhere (44) that he played a leading role in matters which are the chief concern of monks. Having finally completed almost all exercises of stricter discipline, to use the words of Sozomen (45), he seems to have reached the end of his life in advanced old age in the year of Christ CCCXCIV or at the beginning of CCCXCV (46). His feast day is celebrated in the Latin Church on the second of January, but among the Greeks on the nineteenth of the same month (47).

II. There exists in the *Codex of Rules* once compiled by the holy Benedict of Aniane, abbot, the *Rule for Monks* of Saint Macarius of Alexandria, abbot of Nitria (48). Regarding this, it has seemed to some learned men that Gennadius (49) spoke, although he attributed it to the elder Macarius of Egypt. In a later age, there existed two anonymous writers who made mention of the Macarian Rule. The first of these, indeed, in the *Life of Saint John*, abbot of Reomaus, has these words: He [John] studied anew at that time the salutary dogmas under...

the regular observance which the blessed Macarius of the Egyptians impressed upon his monks.^A Another, indeed, in the *Life of Saint Philibert*, abbot of Jumièges and Heri, recording his deeds, says: "He frequently studied with assiduous reading the charisms of holy Basil, the rule of Macarius, the decrees of Benedict, and the most holy institutes of Columbanus." Now, to which Macarius—the Egyptian or the Alexandrian—each biographer attributes such a Rule is not entirely clear; for it is known that writers of the later age were less than accurate in distinguishing between the Macarii. However, I for my part have judged, along with Holstenius, that those whose words we have just cited are to be understood as referring to Macarius the Alexandrian rather than the Egyptian. For it is certain that the Egyptian was both the elder of the two and far more illustrious, having on that account obtained the surname of "the Great"; whereas the Alexandrian was distinguished from the other only by the term "of the city." It follows, therefore, that later writers, by making simple mention of "Macarius," looked toward the Alexandrian, who had garnered more numerous badges of praise than the Egyptian. Be that as it may, there is no reason why we should depart from the text of the ancient codex which Benedict of Aniane described, wherein the Rule of which we speak is expressly ascribed to Macarius the Alexandrian. The same, moreover, is to be said regarding the Epistle addressed to the monks and attached to that same Rule. And it is toward this conclusion that the most learned Tillemont also leans, who, furthermore, by examining the words of Gennadius, is found to rightfully set aside his authority.

III. Under the name of this same Macarius the Alexandrian is also found the *Sermon on the Departure of the Just and the Sinners*, concerning where their souls go when they leave the body and how they conduct themselves. This sermon was first brought to light by William Cave from a manuscript codex of the Pauline Library at Leipzig, using Henry Wharton as interpreter. Subsequently, however, Jacob Tollius translated and published it again as if it were still unedited, collated from the same Leipzig manuscript and two Viennese codices. We have followed this later edition as being more exact than the other. Although the codices—both the Leipzig one and one of the Viennese—attribute this little work to Macarius the Alexandrian, yet another parchment codex of the same Imperial Library attributes it to a disciple of Macarius the Alexandrian. For it is written there thus: "The disciple of the holy Macarius the Alexandrian narrated, 'That at one time...' etc." Regarding the vision related in that sermon, the unfavorable judgment of both editors is sufficiently corrected and mended by the *Dithyramb* of the Great Antony, which you may read in Palladius, as Fabricius opportunely notes. ^B Indeed, it is already known to scholars that there is no lack of many things related to this in the *Lives and Apophthegmata of the Fathers*.

IV. Furthermore, following the small works hitherto reviewed, there is placed the *Rule of the Holy Fathers, Serapion, Macarius, Paphnutius, and another Macarius, Abbots, for Monks*, to which two others were added; these we have taken from the Holstenian Codex of Rules. And it is judged—rightfully and justly, as it seems—by most learned men that the two Macarii mentioned in this place are those most famous anchorites of whom we spoke earlier, namely the Egyptian and the Alexandrian. "During the same time," says Rufinus, "the fathers of the monastic life and of holiness by merit, Macarius and Isidore, and another Macarius, as well as Heraclides and Pambus, the disciples of Antony, were held throughout Egypt and especially in the parts of the Nitrian desert; men who were believed to have a partnership in life and deeds not with other mortals, but with the angels above." And below: "Egypt therefore was flourishing at that time, not only with men learned in Christian philosophy, but also with those who, dwelling throughout the vast desert, performed signs and prodigies by the simplicity of their life and the sincerity of their heart. Among whom, meanwhile, whom we ourselves have seen and whose hands we have deserved to be blessed by, are these: Macarius of the upper desert, another Macarius of the lower." But indeed Serapion, who holds the first place in the inscription of the Rule, may have been even older than Macarius the Egyptian himself in the solitary life, being called for that reason by Palladius and Sozomen: ^C *Serapion ho megas*, "that great Serapion." Paphnutius, however, is highly recommended by the same Palladius. ^D

V. Closing a collection of this kind is the *Oriental Rule* collected from the Rules of the Oriental Fathers by Vigilius the Deacon. Regarding this little work and its author, Gennadius has this to say: "Vigilius the Deacon composed from the tradition of the fathers a Rule for Monks, which is read in the monastery for the progress of the brethren in the assembly, holding in itself in brief and plain language the discipline of the entire monastic profession." Concerning which place, Fabricius notes that this little work does not survive, which surely one is surprised to learn. This same Rule is also mentioned, besides by Honorius of Autun and Trithemius, in the *Annales Trevirenses*. Nor...

^A did Saint Benedict of Aniane and Abbot Smaragdus ignore it, who are said to have transferred many chapters from it—not only praising the former Macarius of Alexandria, and the other equally among the holy Fathers, but also from that other—the former into the *Concordia Regularum*, the latter into the commentary on the Rule of Saint Benedict, as Holstenius notes (68).

NOTAE.

CASIMIRUS OUDINUS DE SS. MACARIIS AEGYPTIO ET ALEXANDRINO.

[Casimiri Oudini Commentarius de scriptoribus Ecclesiae antiquis illorumque scriptis Francof. ad Moenum 1722 fol. T. I p. 474-480.]

There are three monks named Macarius. We join them together, since they can scarcely be separated, and it is convenient that they be joined together for the sake of a clearer distinction between them. These three lived at the same time, and they similarly existed as disciples of the same master, Anthony. Regarding the first two of these, Socrates writes in *Hist. Eccl.* lib. IV cap. 23, Sozomen in lib. III cap. 14, Theodoret in lib. IV cap. 24, and Palladius in *Hist. Laus.* ^B chapters 19 and 20. The first of these, Macarius, an Egyptian by birth, a monk of Scetis, and a disciple of the Great Anthony, became famous from the year 350. While still established in his youth, he excelled so much in monastic virtues and an austere manner of life, being always self-possessed and grave, that he was called *paidariogeros* (an aged boy) by the brethren. At forty years of age he was elevated to the rank of presbyter. He is said to have been so famous for miracles and prophecy, and to have healed so many sick and delivered so many obsessed by demons, that, as Socrates testifies, the miracles performed by him would require a special work. Indeed, it is no wonder [Pag. 475] that a man so celebrated among monks was, in the fullness of time, also enrolled among the ecclesiastical writers. For the monks of later times, to the best of their ability, ^C chose those illustrious men even among the learned, with works substituted under their names. Jerome would not have omitted this Macarius from his *Scriptores* if, in his time, anything had existed under the name of Macarius. About a hundred years after the age of Jerome, the presbyter Gennadius of Marseilles listed this Macarius among the ecclesiastical writers in his book *De viris illustribus* cap. 10, to whom he attributes only a single Epistle, since at that time only this one was current under the name of the most celebrated Macarius. Socrates, who magnificently extols the virtues of those Macarii in *Hist. Eccl.* lib. IV cap. 23, is silent about their writings, although he positively catalogues the works of their disciple Evagrius in the same place. Therefore, nothing existed written under the name of the Macarii in the time of Socrates, which he certainly, given so illustrious an occasion, would not have omitted to mention; ^D and he refers there to their *Apophthegmata*, just as Palladius does in lib. 1. Certainly, the later Greek and monastic tradition was more daring, which would have blushed had nothing existed written under the name of the Macarii. Therefore, under the false name of St. Macarius the Elder and Egyptian, whom Gennadius (l. 1) maintained had written only a single Epistle, fifty *Spiritual Homilies* were produced regarding the integrity which befits Christians. They exist in Greek and Latin at Paris, 1559, 8vo; then by the care of Zach. Palthenius at Frankfurt, 1594, 8vo; and finally with the Works of Gregory Thaumaturgus at Paris in folio, the year 1622. Though Cave, had he judged correctly, ought to have proscribed these as supposititious and supported by no testimony of antiquity, he felt it sufficient to say that they had perhaps been interpolated by someone of a later century. Petrus Possinus of the Society of Jesus, in his *Prolegomena* to the *Thesaurus Asceticus* printed in Greek and Latin in 4to at Toulouse in 1684 by Guillaume Bosch, thinks they belong to the younger Macarius the Egyptian, who was famous at that same time. That contention is of little moment, since both the elder and the younger lived at the same time. I, owing to the silence of the ancients regarding these Works, believe these Homilies were substituted by Greek monks for the greater fame of the name of the Macarii for both Macarii. Omitting the silence of the ancients regarding these Works, I say that both that Epistle, of which Gennadius speaks, and these fifty Homilies, of which we have treated above, cannot be by that Macarius the Egyptian, whether senior or junior, who was a contemporary of the senior and only junior in age. I offer as the best reason the subtle and pure Pelagianism with which both the Epistle and the Homilies are full, as will be clear to one who reads attentively. Now, all three of these Macarii were dead before the Pelagian heresy arose, whence those writings can in no way belong to those Macarii. Regarding the Epistle, which has perished, there is the express testimony of Gennadius, who had read it, in his book *De viris illustribus* cap. 10, conceived in these words: "Macarius that Egyptian monk, [Pag. 476] famous for signs and virtues, wrote only one Epistle to the younger ones of his profession, in which he teaches that he can perfectly serve God who, knowing the condition of his own creation, has inclined himself to every labor, and by struggling and imploring God’s help against everything that is sweet in this life, arriving also at natural purity, has obtained continence as a debt due to nature." For that continence is the debt due to nature, not to grace, is a Pelagian doctrine entirely contrary to Solomon (Sap. VIII, 2 and X, 2) and the Apostle (Gal. V, 23): *But the fruit of the Spirit is… faith, modesty, continence, chastity.* Which indeed these…

CASIMIR OUDIN ON THE ST. MACARII

(Spirit, etc., faith, modesty, continence, chastity.) That these fifty homilies do not in any way pertain to this Macarius, nor to two others of the same period, I assert based on these two arguments:

First. These homilies are not properly homilies delivered to the people, but merely a farrago collected by some archimandrite and composed privately, which sometimes indeed contains homilies, but at other times consists of various Questions and Answers which have no appearance of homilies, and which the compiler bundled together as he was able, without connection. From an inspection and reading of them, the matter can be established, which Elias du Pin does not deny in *Nov. Biblioth. Scriptt. Eccles.*, Vol. II, 4th century, p. 70 of my copy. For at the end of Homily VI, concerning prayer, he raises two Questions regarding the incarnation of Jesus Christ with as many Answers, which contribute nothing to the argument of the Prayer. Homilies VII and VIII likewise consist of various Questions and Answers. Whence it is clearer than the sun that these are not homilies delivered to the people, but a collection of Questions, which monks, approaching some archimandrite, are feigned to have proposed. Homily XII contains Questions and Answers that are either of no use or of little use. Homily XV has no special argument, but contains various Questions concerning the resurrection and concupiscence, which have no connection between them. Homily XXVI contains many Questions and Answers concerning the temptations of the devil and the effects of grace. Homily XXVII also responds to many Questions concerning the effects of grace. Homily XXXVII is found verbatim among the *Opuscula* of Marcus the Ascetic. Homily XL proposes three further Questions, which it solves with as many Answers. This collection of homilies is not, therefore, one properly so-called, but a farrago of various things, indiscriminately piled together, as pleased the collector.

Second. Whoever the author of this farrago may be, he wrote after the rise of the Pelagian heresy, which he teaches in a subtle and cautious manner throughout. This was recognized by Ellias du Pin (l. c.), when he states that those homilies of which we speak are conformable in doctrine to the Epistle under the name of Macarius, which Gennadius describes in his *Book on Illustrious Men*, ch. 10. But that Epistle is Pelagian, and the same must be said of these Homilies. For Homily XV posits that concupiscence is a kind of fire [pag. 477] kindled in man, inflaming, as it were, all his parts, which one can resist if he watches over himself assiduously and fights: and that those who resist the passions receive the Holy Spirit and the graces of Christ. This is entirely Pelagian, as if we were able to resist concupiscence and inflaming passions by the powers of nature before the grace of Christ is received. Homily XVI says that a man ought always to fear, for the reason that he is always exposed to temptations; and thus, those who do not yet have grace ought always both to do good and to flee evil by natural impulses; those, however, who have already received grace, do not need these natural and interior impulses. He supposes, therefore, that a man, even before he has grace, can both do good and flee evil by natural instincts; which is Pelagian, as if we could draw the grace of God to us by these labors and efforts of nature. Homily XXVI is also entirely Pelagian, as will be evident to an attentive reader, and as can be abundantly understood from what Ellias du Pin cites (l. c.). I wonder, however, why he tries on page 72 of my copy to wash the Ethiopian white and intends to show that this author wishes nothing other than to reconcile the necessity of grace with the cooperation of our free will. That Pelagian definitely wants something else; namely, that the beginning of our salvation is from ourselves, starting through the works of nature, to which, when divine grace is added, salvation is then brought to perfection. Whence, although he says rather often that grace is necessary either for perfect justice, or for eternal life, as in Homily XXIV, or for avoiding all occasions of sin, or for resisting all temptations, as in Homily XXV, yet he never asserted that it is necessary for every and any single good work, opining, indeed, according to Pelagius and the Pelagians, that the beginning of salvation is from us acting out of nature.

This author agrees mostly in terms of doctrine with Marcus (*doer of asceticism*) or the Ascetic, who was once a disciple of this Macarius, and it was not difficult that the writings of a disciple should subsequently be attributed to the master out of an affectation of greater authority, or even out of malice. More on these Homilies or even the Questions, we reserve for later, under Marcus the Ascetic, to whom we believe they should be adjudged due to the similarity of doctrine and style.

These homilies of S. Macarius of Egypt exist in MS. in Greek at the Bodleian library at Oxford, in the Baroccian codex 243. And in this codex exist LVII Homilies, of which the last one among the printed ones is fuller in this MS. than in the printed editions.

The same Homily LI to Symeon the Ascetic, p. 202, b: *Macarios tois askétais*. The same Homily LII on the Nativity of Christ, p. 208: *ho logos tou Theou ergon tēs alētheias*. Homily LIII on long-suffering and patience in afflictions, p. 215: *boulomenos Theō euarestēsai*. [pag. 478] Homily LIV on the good pleasure of God and divine permission: *Panta ta genomena*. Homily LV against those seeking vainglory in sermons to the people, p. 230, b: *Isteon hoti tines eisi neōteroi*. Homily LVI on the name and office of the monk, p. 234, b: *Ti esti monazōn*. Homily LVII on the various operations of the Holy Spirit, p. 238, b: *To pneuma hopou thelei, pnei*. Which contain the same method of asceticism as the printed ones, the same doctrine, and are not found in other such MS. copies of the Homilies. I am, however, led most strongly to believe that all these Homilies and ascetic Questions pertain to Marcus

^A the Ascetic, or Exercise-master, who led a solitary life among the Nitrian monks and was a disciple of the younger Macarius of Egypt; he was famous from the year 400 and following, up to about the year 440 or beyond. Concerning him, see Sozomen, Book VI, ch. 29; Palladius, *Hist. Laus.*, chs. 20 and 21; and Nicephorus, *Hist. Eccl.*, Book XIV, ch. 54. For he lived for many years after the Pelagian heresy, reaching a decrepit old age, and died at over one hundred years. Nor do I lack reasons or conjectures: I. The very Pelagian doctrine, which he has in common with Marcus the Exercise-master. II. The 37th Homily, *On Paradise and the Spiritual Law*, is found verbatim among the *Opuscula* of Marcus the Exercise-master, whence there is no slight indication that this entire collection of Homilies pertains to him, especially since Macarius, the younger abbot of Egypt, did not live long enough to reach the times of the Pelagian heresy, whereas Marcus the Exercise-master, who scattered it everywhere in his works, did. III. The style of those Homilies fits perfectly with the style of Marcus the Exercise-master, of whom Photius speaks in the *Bibliotheca*, cod. 200. IV. These 50 Homilies of St. Macarius of Egypt can agree with those works which Nicephorus Callistus (l. 1) asserts to have reached his own age from the books of Marcus the Exercise-master, amounting to eight books of universal affections and another thirty-two on ascetic matters. For these 50 Homilies under the name of St. Macarius of Egypt can contain those 40 *Opuscula* which by the ancients are attributed to Marcus the Exercise-master. For many consulted Marcus on ascetic questions, to which he gave responses, as is evident from the Epistle of a certain Nicolaus, in which he gives thanks to Marcus for the salutary precepts addressed to him. However, since there are more than 40, this does nothing against Marcus the Exercise-master, because Nicephorus had not obtained all of his works. Johann Georg Pritius, who saw to it that they were collected and published together in Greek and Latin at Leipzig in the years 1698 and 1699 in two volumes in-8, and also in 1709 with Prolegomena, quite unskillfully ascribes all these *Opuscula* attributed to different Macarii to this elder Macarius of Egypt ^B. Finally, this elder Macarius, after having spent sixty [Pag. 479] years in solitude, died at the age of ninety, as some maintain, in the year 391 on the 2nd of January.

The other Macarius, called the younger, was born at Alexandria, where in his younger years he sought a living by selling confections. Like the aforementioned Macarius, he was a disciple of the same Antony. For, having renounced both the city of Alexandria and his trade, he withdrew to the Nitrian desert and embraced the monastic life. In the fortieth year of his age he received baptism, and in the course of time became a presbyter and archimandrite of the Nitrians. He followed the stricter discipline of the monastic life with such zeal that, as Sozomen says (*Hist. Eccl.*, Book III, ch. 14), from the excessive dryness of his skin, the hairs of his beard did not grow. But Macarius of Alexandria, says Socrates (*Hist. Eccl.*, Book IV, ch. 23), while he was in every respect similar to the Egyptian, differed in this one point, that he was cheerful toward those who approached him, and by a certain urbanity would entice the younger to monastic discipline. Palladius (*Hist. Laus.*, ch. 20) relates wonders concerning his virtues, abstinence, miracles performed, and demons expelled through him, regarding which I have many doubts, although the one who recounts them used his company familiarly. Since he was not inferior to Macarius of Egypt in virtues and miracles, he too ought to have been reckoned among ecclesiastical writers by more recent Greek monks, lest his teaching seem to yield to the other. There is therefore ascribed to him a *Monastic Rule* in Latin, comprised of 30 chapters, which the Jesuit Petrus Roverius first published in the *History of the Monastery of Reomaus*, p. 24. Lucas Holstenius also published the same in the *Codex Regularum*, Paris, 1663, in-4° at the house of Ludovicus Billaine. But since those Rules are supported by no testimony of the ancients, they are considered by prudent men to be the fabrications of more recent monks of Greece. Also, Cave published under the name of this same Macarius of Alexandria a most absurd sermon, in Greek and Latin, from an MS. codex of the Pauline Library of Leipzig, in his *Hist. Lit. Scriptt. Eccl.* for the year 373, p. 208. The same sermon was also published again in Greek and Latin from the same MS. codex by Jacobus Tollius in 1696 in-4° at Utrecht at the house of Franciscus Halma in the collection *Insignia Itinerarii Italici*, p. 192, collated with MS. codices of the Imperial [Pag. 480] Library of Vienna and enriched with variant readings. From a reading of it, it is easy to understand the impudence and ignorance of those who foist such trifles of recent times upon the ancient Fathers of the Church. Macarius of Alexandria is said to have died around the year 404, having reached the one hundredth year of his age, whose memory is celebrated in the Roman Martyrology on the 15th day of January.

The third Macarius, also a disciple of St. Antony the Great, was a contemporary of both of the preceding, and a companion of Amathas; he is distinguished from the other two, the Egyptian and the Alexandrian. Regarding this third Macarius, Possinus writes abundantly in his *Prolegomena ad Thesaurum asceticum*, no. V, VI, etc., where he rightly distinguishes the three Macarii, disciples of the holy Father Antony, namely: the Egyptian, who had his seat at Scetis; the Alexandrian, who was at the Cells which are in Libya, places far distant from the Thebaid where Antony dwelt. Thus, there was an inner mountain in the Thebaid where Antony usually resided alone, and an outer mountain to which he would occasionally travel to visit his monks dwelling there. In it dwelt this third Macarius, under whose name Petrus Possinus published seven *Opuscula*—namely, *On the Custody of the Heart* (p. 19), *On Perfection in the Spirit* (p. 47), *On Prayer* (p. 63), *On Patience and Discretion* (p. 81), *On the Elevation of the Mind* (p. 115), *On Charity* (p. 141), and *On the Freedom of the Mind* (p. 183)—in the *Thesaurus Asceticus*, printed in Greek and Latin at Toulouse in-4° in the year 1684 at the house of Guilelmus Bosch. There is much there in the *Prolegomena* ^C regarding this third Macarius, whom he also identifies as the Egyptian along with the first, and to whom he attributes even the fifty Homilies (which are yet commonly inscribed to the elder Egyptian) to this younger, or rather third, Macarius. He flourished at the same time as Abbot Antony, at whose death in the year 357 he was present.

^C Thus, all the Opuscula which have been ascribed by learned men in this century to these three Macarii, none of whom the ancients mentioned, are uncertain. Petrus Possinus treats of these three Macarii in his *Prolegomena* to the *Thesaurus Asceticus*; William Cave in *Hist. Lit.*, Century IV, to the year 373, pp. 207, 208, and 212; and the *Acta Eruditorum Lipsiae* of the year 1685, the month of November, pp. 488, very extensively to 491.

WILLIAM CAVE ON THE SS. MACARIUS THE EGYPTIAN AND MACARIUS THE ALEXANDRIAN

MACARIUS the Elder, surnamed the Great, an Egyptian by race, originating from the province of the Thebaid, a monk of Scetes and disciple of Antony the Great, flourished circa the year 373. [Socr. lib. IV, cap. 23; Soz. lib. III, cap. 14; Theodoret. lib. IV, cap. 24.] While still in his youth, he stood out so much for his virtues and his philosophical and austere manner of living that he was called by the monks *paidariogerōn* (the boy-elder). At forty years of age, he was elevated to the grade of presbyter, and having spent sixty years in the wilderness, he died at the age of ninety, in the year 391 as some maintain. In his habits, he was as venerable as he was severe towards those who approached him. Illustrious for miracles and prophecy, he healed so many sick and liberated so many possessed by demons that, as Socrates testifies, the miracles performed by him would have required a separate work. Palladius treats of these at length in *Hist. Laus.*, cap. 19.

He wrote *Spiritual Homilies*, i.e., concerning the integrity that befits Christians, which, perhaps having been interpolated by someone of a later age, exist in Greek (Paris, 1559, 8vo), then under the care of Zach. Palthenius of Frankfurt (1594, 8vo), and finally with the *Works of Gregory Thaumaturgus* (Paris, 1622, fol.). Also his are the seven *Opuscula*, namely, *On the Custody of the Heart*, *On Perfection in the Spirit*, *On Prayer*, *On Patience and Discretion*, *On the Elevation of the Mind*, *On Charity*, and *On the Freedom of the Mind*. That these have the same author as the Homilies, the same style and character of expression, the same genius, and the same dogmas, sufficiently argue. These *Opuscula*, in Greek and Latin, were edited by Petrus Possinus of the Society of Jesus in his *Thesaurus Asceticus* (Toulouse, 1684, 4to). Finally, all the works of Macarius—both the Homilies and the ascetic *Opuscula* and *Apophthegmata*—were collected, edited in Greek and Latin, the Greek text revised, the version amended, and excerpts from Palladius and Cassianus added by Jo. Georg. Pritius of Leipzig (Leipzig, 1698, 8vo). But besides the writings that are commonly attributed to him, there are Greek manuscripts in the Vienna Library under his name, namely various *Opuscula*: 170 Ascetic Chapters, illustrated by a metaphrasis from Symeon the Logothete (Cod. theol. 104); *Ascetic Paraenesis* (Cod. 140, no. 3); 100 Ascetic Chapters (Cod. 179, no. 8); 30 Chapters on the *Custody of the Heart* (Cod. 192, no. 15); and 170 Chapters on *Spiritual Perfection* (Cod. 192, no. 16). But all these contain almost nothing other than those seven ascetic *Opuscula* which P. Possinus edited in his *Thesaurus* (Paris, 1684), and which he contends are to be attributed to a certain third Macarius; certainly, they are to be vindicated for either our own or Macarius the Alexandrian, as we shall soon show.

MACARIUS the Younger, called *Politikos*, from Alexandria, where in his early age he earned a living by selling confections, was a disciple of Antony and a contemporary of the other Macarius, surviving him. Having renounced both the city and his trade, he withdrew to the Nitrian desert and embraced the monastic life. [Socrat. lib. IV, cap. 23; Sozom. lib. III, cap. 14; Theodoret. lib. IV, cap. 21]. He attained the age of one hundred, dying circa the year 404. He cultivated a stricter discipline of monastic life with such zeal that, from the excessive dryness of his skin, the hairs of his beard did not grow. Meanwhile, he differed from the other Macarius in this one thing: that he greeted those arriving to visit him with a cheerful face and delighted them with witty conversation, enticing the younger ones to monastic discipline with a certain urbanity. Palladius, who was familiar with him, narrates wonderful things about his virtues, abstinence, the miracles he performed, and the demons he banished (*Hist. Laus.*, cap. 20). As for why he was called "the Politician," it happened because he not only associated with monks in the wilderness but, having been born *en tē polei* (i.e., in the city of Alexandria), he spent a great part of his life in the public light of men. Philippus Sidetes testifies that he had been the prefect of the Alexandrian catechetical school. But I fear that his claim that he succeeded Peter the Martyr in this office cannot stand up to the consideration of the times. For let us grant that Peter held the school together with the episcopate until the very end of his life, a fact which, however, is not certain, nor does it seem sufficiently probable, since it is certain that Peter spent the greatest part of his episcopate under persecution and in prison.

^A Be that as it may, he died crowned by martyrdom in the year 302. At which time our Macarius of necessity must have been truly young and almost a boy. The founders of the Ecclesiastical History make him a disciple of the Great Antony [Pag. 257], and they wish him to have flourished in the times of Constantius; indeed, Palladius lived with him in solitude for three years as this century was ending [Hist. Lausiac. c. 20 p. 924]. Therefore, either as a very young man he began this office of scholastic, or the school lay vacant after the martyrdom of Peter, or—what it is more likely to suspect—some other master of the school intervened, bypassed by Philippus. For he shows no others as teachers of this school from the death of Peter, except for Macarius and Didymus, for almost this entire century. There was also another Macarius, the Egyptian, called the Elder, of whom we speak elsewhere. Indeed, Petrus Possinus [Proleg. in Thes. Ascet.] has even carved out for us a third, a disciple and companion of Antony, and an associate of Amathas, to whom he also thinks should be attributed the 50 Homilies first published by Pico, and the 7 Opuscula brought to light by himself. And I confess that I was once of this very opinion. But when the matter is better weighed, I can with difficulty obtain from myself the belief that, besides the Egyptian and the Alexandrian, there must be invented a third Macarius, a disciple of Antony, a colleague of Amathas, and the author of the Macarian works. Certainly, Socrates, Sozomen, Theodoret, Nicephorus, and Palladius himself—who lived at this very time, in these very places, and treats of them at length—do not show us any other Macari who were disciples of Antony. To prove his Macarius, Possinus cites Athanasius in the *Life of Antony* and Jerome in the *Life of Paul* as witnesses. But Athanasius does not have even a word about Macarius. Jerome mentions Macarius and Amathas, disciples of Antony, and teaches that Amathas buried his master; he has nothing to say about Macarius. I ask Possinus, therefore, why one of our own, a disciple of Antony and colleague of Amathas, cannot be considered the father of the Opuscula? He says: "Not the Egyptian, for he is said to have spent sixty years in the Scythian solitude." But what of that? Did he remain standing motionless in his cell for sixty whole years, after the fashion of the Stylites? What was more familiar to those solitaries than to change the seat of their asceticism from time to time? So that Macarius could easily have inhabited certain places near Antony, and, given the opportunity—especially as his life drew to a close—could have been ready to hand, and buried the deceased's body together with Amathas. For Cronius the presbyter, in Palladius c. 25, testifies no more than this about the matter. Nor does Sozomen say that Macarius lived his sixty years in Scetis alone, but also in the deserts. Much less can this be denied of our Alexandrian, whom Palladius expressly testifies to have had various cells: one in Scetis, which is interior in the wilderness, one in Libya in the Cells, and one on Mount Nitria, so that he could easily be present to Antony and serve him. Nor are those arguments stronger by which Possinus strives to prove that the aforementioned Opuscula should be ascribed to neither of them. Not to the Egyptian, because Gennadius [de Script. Eccl. c. 10] reports that he wrote only one letter to the juniors of his profession. But what if Gennadius is speaking only of the letters of Macarius? What if Macarius wrote other things that escaped the diligence of Gennadius, since not a few writings exist which one might seek in vain in Gennadius? Nor, finally, to our Alexandrian, because among the many things Sozomen, Socrates, and Nicephorus have to say about him, they report absolutely nothing from which it could be understood that he wrote anything that came out into the light and to fame. An altogether feeble and clearly brittle argument! For who does not know that it was not the intention of Socrates and Sozomen to treat of ecclesiastical writers as their profession? They are accustomed to enumerate men notable for their learning, but rarely or never to review their writings; so that nothing stands in the way—despite the resistance of Possinus—of the aforementioned Opuscula being not undeservedly attributed to one or the other of our Macari, and perhaps to our Alexandrian. There exists in Greek, in MS., under the name of our Macarius of Alexandria, a fragment from the *Questions to Magnus Eusebius, bishop of Alexandria* (Vindob. Bibl. Cod. Theol. 84), in which are contained the commonplaces of an anonymous ascetic, collected from the works of various Holy Fathers regarding the character of true Christianity. But who this Magnus Eusebius was, bishop of Alexandria at about this time, to whom these questions were written, I confess that I cannot even guess. There is extant, inscribed in Latin, a *Monastic Rule* comprehended in XXX chapters, which the Jesuit Petrus Roverius first published in his *History of the Monastery of Reoma* [Pag. 24]. But whether it is truly our Macarius’s does not yet appear to me. Indeed, it seems clearly to be rather a compendium of rules compiled from the writings of Macarius and other ascetics. There exists in my possession, copied from a manuscript codex of the Pauline Library of Leipzig, a *Sermon on the departure and state of souls after this life*, by Macarius of Alexandria—for that is how the title reads. It contains many foolish and old-wives' tales, indeed, and it seems to me to be the invention of a certain more recent little Greek, who, having dreamt these things on the subject, reduced them to the form of a dialogue between Macarius and angels. But since it is unpublished, and will at the very least recommend itself to the reader by its novelty, I shall place it here, adorned with a Latin version. [Pag. 258.]

The discourse of holy Macarius the Alexandrian on the departure of the souls of the just and the sinful, how they are separated from the body, and in what state they remain.

Once, when we were traveling in the desert, I saw two angels accompanying the holy Macarius, one on the right and one on the left; and while we were proceeding together,

^A a corpse was found lying there and emitting a stench. The holy Macarius, perceiving the stench, covered his nostrils with his own hand until he had passed by. The angels did the same. Seeing this, the old man said to them: "Do you also smell the stench of the world?" They replied: "Not at all; but seeing you cover your nostrils, we did likewise. For we do not perceive the stench of the world, but we only smell the foul odor of the souls of sinners, in the same way that you turn away from the stench of this corpse." The old man says to them: "Make known to me, I beseech you, whether you perceive the foul-smelling soul of sinners in this life, or after death? And how do you distinguish between the souls of those sinners who have believed in the Lord and the impious who have not believed? Tell me this, if I have found favor in your eyes." The angels said: "Hearken, elect of God, Macarius. A sinful soul, while it still remains in the body, emits a certain foul odor from its evil actions, but much more so after death. For its actions, pressing manifestly upon the soul, cast darkness and blackness over it; for the soul is by nature bright and pure, as it is a breath of the immortal light. But when it is placed in the body, if it does not govern it well, ^B it is defiled in measure by sin, some more, others less. And as to how the souls of both the faithful and the unfaithful are released from their bodies, listen, and consider that earthly or common things are altogether inferior to heavenly things, Macarius. For just as soldiers sent by an earthly king to apprehend someone arrive and seize him even against his will—and he trembles with fear, and shudders at the very presence of the soldiers who are dragging him away by force along the journey—so also when angels are sent to take up a soul, whether that of a just man or a sinner, that soul trembles with fear, and shudders at the very presence of ^C the terrible and harsh angels. For the soul then perceives that the abundance of wealth, kinsmen, and friends is utterly empty, weak, and useless; it sees the tears and the lamentations of those standing around, yet it cannot utter a word, since it has never before experienced such a summons; indeed, it fears the infinite length of the way and the change in the manner of living. It is distressed also by the presence of those standing by, whose [Pag. 259] feelings it shares, and likewise by the misfortune of the body. It grieves at this separation, for it is being severed from that to which it has long been accustomed, nor can it have any one and only consolation, which arises from one's own conscience, unless it is conscious within itself of having practiced good deeds. Such a soul, even before it is brought before the Judge, is judged unceasingly by its own conscience." Abbas Macarius says again: "Is it so indeed? My lords, I beg you, explain this to me as well. Since it has been handed down from the fathers that on the third day and the ninth and the..."

fortieth day, an oblation should be offered to God in the church for the one who has passed away, what benefit accrues to the soul from this departure?" ^A And the angel said: "Nothing is permitted to occur in God's church inopportunely or without benefit; rather, God allowed His heavenly and earthly mysteries to be performed and ordered them to be celebrated in His church. For on the third day, when the oblation is made in the church, the soul receives a consolation for the sorrow with which it was separated from the body, being received by the angel who attends it, because a blessing and an offering have been brought forth for it in the church of God, and it becomes hopeful in this. For during the two days, the soul is permitted, together with the angels accompanying it, to walk wherever it wishes upon the earth. The soul, therefore, which is attached to the body, wanders at times about the house where ^B it was released, at other times about the tomb where the body was laid, and in this way it spends the two days seeking its nest, like a bird. But the virtuous soul goes to those places where it was in the habit of performing righteousness. On the third day, however, He who rose from the dead on the third day, Christ, the God of all, commands every Christian soul to be caught up to heaven, in imitation of His own resurrection, for the adoration of the God of all. It is well, therefore, that the Church holds to making an oblation and prayer on the third day for the soul. After, then, it has adored God, an order is issued by Him so that the diverse and delightful dwellings of the saints and the beauty of paradise might be shown to it. ^C The soul observes all these things for six days, marveling at and glorifying God, the creator of these wonders. And contemplating all these things, the soul is changed and forgets the sorrow it had while it was in the body. But if it is subject to sins, upon seeing the joys of the saints, it begins to be grieved and to condemn itself, saying, 'Woe is me, how I was made empty in that world, being occupied with the desires of life! I spent the greater part of my life in negligence, and did not serve God as was fitting, so that I might also be deemed worthy of this grace and this glory. Woe to me, a wretched one! The cares and the untimely distraction that I had in the world still beset me. But where do the vineyards I planted, and the olive groves, now ^D profit me? What benefit will the field I acquired provide me? What use is the gold there to me? What advantage does the wealth there provide me? What does all the pleasantness of that life and that world avail me? Woe is me, for I labored in vain! Woe is me, for I lived foolishly! Woe is me, for I loved the glory of a brief time, and I acquired eternal poverty! Woe is me!

^A What have I experienced? Woe is me, how have I been darkened? I know not. Woe is me, no one will be able to help me now, so that I, miserable, may attain the glory of the Lord. But after it has beheld all the joy of the just during the six days, it is led back again by the angels to worship God. Well, therefore, does the Church on the ninth day perform liturgies and celebrate the offering for the departed. And after the second act of worship, an order is issued again by the Lord of all to take the soul down into Hades and show it the punishments therein, the varied storehouses of Hades, and the different chastisements of the impious, by which the souls of sinners sit, perpetually lamenting and gnashing their teeth. Through these various punishments the soul is taken around for thirty days, trembling, lest perhaps it too might be condemned to be imprisoned in such a place. On the fortieth day it is led up again to worship God; and then the Judge ^B assigns to it the place where it will be kept eternally, according to its works. Well, therefore, is the memorial of the departed and the baptized celebrated in the Church. But regarding those souls that never received holy baptism, the matter does not stand in the same way, but in that case merciless angels take the unbaptized souls from the body, striking them and saying: "Come hither, impious soul; who is thy Lord and the God of all, whom thou didst not wish to know, while living securely in the world? Now, however, acknowledge Him, condemned to eternal punishments." Then, leading it up to the first heaven, they set it there and show it from afar the glory of the angels and of all the heavenly powers, saying, "The Lord of all these is Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, whom thou didst not wish to know and worship; but since thou hast been led off to those like thee, the impious, and their prince the devil, [depart] into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels, whom, while thou wast still in life, thou didst worship ^C as gods." After the angels had said these things, and had embraced the servant of God, Macarius, they vanished from our sight. Let us, however, give glory to the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, now and always, and unto the ages of ages. Amen.

IOANNES ALBERTUS FABRICIUS ON THE LIVES AND WRITINGS OF THE SS. MACARII OF EGYPT AND ALEXANDRIA

Macarius the Great, an Egyptian monk and presbyter, a disciple of St. Anthony (1), and teacher of Evagrius Ponticus, died in the desert of Scetis, where he had lived since the year of Christ [blank], reaching his ninetieth year circa A.C. 391. Concerning whom Socrates.

^A IV, 23, Palladius *Lausiaca* c. 19, John the Hagiopolite in the *Eulogy for Macarius of Egypt*, inserted into the Greek Menaia for January 15, which begins «μικροῦ Μακάριος διέφυγε ὁ Αἰγύπτιος», and among more recent authors, beyond the translators and editors, Jo. Bollandus Jan. 15, T. I p. 1005 sqq., Tillemont T. VIII *Memor. Eccl.*, G. Cave *Hist. Lit. SS. Eccl.* T. I p. 256, Cas. Oudin *Comm. de SS. Eccl.* T. I p. 474, where he pursues the lives of the three Macarian monks, Stollius *Nachr. von den Kirchenv.* p. 440 sqq., who mentions other old and new writers, D. Ell. du Pin *Nouv. bibl.* T. II p. 69, R. Ceillier *Hist. gén. des Aut. ecclés.* T. VI p. 709 sqq., J. G. Walch *Hist. Eccl. N. T.* p. 1367, Hamberger *Z. N.* II p. 857 sqq., Saxius *Onom.* I p. 397 sqq., who says that "Macarius" was sent by Athanasius to Constantine Augustus in A.C. 331 to remove the odium of the charge from the bishop, and cites Pagi *Crit. Baron.* ad A.C. 333 Nr. III p. 248 sqq. When Macarius was still a youth, he excelled in such a severe type of life and in monastic virtues that he was called by the monks *παιδαριογέρων*, i.e., an old man in the age of a boy. Hence, for the space of LX years he consumed his life in a certain Egyptian solitude, which is called by various names: Scetica, Scetina, Scetiaca, Scytica, Scytiaca, and Scytiolica. Here, on account of the holiness of his life and the reputation for miracles and prophecy, he lived with the highest authority. What his more important or singular teachings were, Stollius also enumerates in the aforementioned place.

Exstant under his name (2) fifty homilies, pious and worthy of reading, concerning the integrity that befits Christians. They were published in Greek from the Royal Library of Paris by Guil. Morellius in 1559, 8° [p. 362], in neat type, and in the same year separately in Latin, 8°, from the version of Joannes Picus, presiding officer of the inquisitorial classes in the Parisian senate (3). The same version saw the light of day in the same place in 1562 and frequently in the *Bibliotheca Patrum* at Paris, Cologne, and Lyon. In Greek and Latin, with the version of Zach. Palthenius of Friedberg, Frankfurt 1594, 1621, 8°. And again, with Picus's version, attached to the works of Gregory Thaumaturgus and Basil of Seleucia and Zonaras on the canonical epistles, Paris 1622, fol. [a. 1624 in the cat. of the Leiden Library p. 45 and above Vol. VII p. 260]. Finally, distinguished into sections from the redaction of D. Jo. Georgius Pritius, a senior of Frankfurt, with the version of Palthenius corrected by himself, Leipzig 1698, 8°. In German, translated by Godfried Arnold, Leipzig 1696, 8°; Goslar 1702, 1716, 8°. In Dutch, Antwerp 1580, 8°, translated by Cornelius Kiel. In a new English version, which Thomas Haywood published with singular study in London in 1721, 8°, many places were emended from the Barocci codex of the Bodleian Library (4), lacunae were filled, the confusion of homilies XIII and XIV was removed, and the fiftieth homily was made richer by the addition of an entire page. From the same Bodleian codex, Hudson sent a transcript of seven homilies, [394] hitherto unpublished, to the aforementioned Pritius, as Haywood testifies in his introduction, p. 86 (5).

NOTES

(2) Petrus Possinus in *Prolegg. ad Thesaur. Asceti-* cum gr. et lat. Toulouse 1684, 4°, contends that these Homilies and the seven Opuscula that he was the first to publish recognize as their author a certain older Macarius, likewise a disciple of Antony, from whom, as he spoke Coptic, he caught the most parts in a Greek style, and [he makes him] a companion inseparable from Amathas from A.C. 341 and a witness to his death in 356. But that there is no need to consider this man different from that other Egyptian, the most learned men Guil. Cave in *Hist. Lit. Scriptt. Eccl.* Part two, and Io. Georgius Pritius in his Preface to Macarius, teach. FABR. Oudin, in the same place, against Possinus, du Pin, and Cave, contends and supports his opinion with many arguments, attempting to attribute the letter [p. 362] to Macarius the presbyter, and argues that the fifty Homilies are supposititious and, because of the silence of the ancients concerning them and because they smack of the most subtle and pure Pelagianism, that they do not have Macarius the Egyptian as their author, neither the senior nor the junior, since all three Macariuses died before the Pelagian sect arose. Indeed, even before Pelagius, the seeds of Pelagianism had been sown; see J. G. Walch *H. E.* p. 1369, and G. J. Voss *Histor. de controversiis, quas Pelagius eiusque reliquiae moverunt*, Amsterdam 1655, 4°, Lib. I cap. 3 p. 4 sqq. Finally, Oudin believes that all the Homilies and ascetic questions should be assigned to Marcus the Ascetic, formerly a disciple of Macarius the Younger, who was famous from A. 400 and following years up to c. 440 or beyond, who led a solitary life among the Nitrian monks, based on the similarity of doctrine and style. He rejects Pritius's opinion, and affirms that he unskillfully ascribed to Macarius the Egyptian Senior all the Opuscula attributed to various Macariuses. But J. G. Walch (p. 1368 sq.) neither recognizes a third Macarius nor approves Oudin’s reasons and judgment, ^B and he further refutes him. HARL.

(3) At the end of the Preface written in Paris, May 1, 1559, the editor says: "These very ones, having been printed in Greek and Latin, we send to you pious worshippers of Christ and the S. Church, who will receive them with a grateful mind, if the tranquility of the times should bring forth anything better, to be published immediately." HARL.

(4) Of that version, see *Acta erudit.* A. 1724 p. 86, and Bruggemann *View* etc. p. 402, by whom *The forty-fifth Homily of S. Macarius, done out of Greek*, 4, s. a. et l., and *A Homily of Macarius* translated by Henr. Guil. Ludolf in *Reliquiae Ludolfianae*, London 1712, 12, Nr. VI, are also mentioned. HARL.

(5) In the Barocci codex, the fiftieth homily is richer than in the published versions, and the seven additional homilies are only preserved in that codex; the compiler of the catalog of English codd. etc. I p. 30 refers to them, as does Oudin in the same place, who also observes that they contain the same method and the same ascetic doctrine as the published ones. In the *Catalogus codd. Angliae* etc., in the index of Vol. 1, and sometimes in other catalogs as well, the Macariuses seem confused. For they are attributed to Macarius the Alexandrian, the senior, the Egyptian, who is likewise called Abbot of Nitria; yet he is the junior, whereas the Homilies already lauded, as well as others which, for the sake of brevity, I shall repeat here simultaneously from that and other catalogs. They are said to be found, therefore, in the Barocci cod. CXLVII, the vision of the souls by Macarius the hermit; in the Oliver Cromwell cod. CCLXXVII Nr. 5, from the *Lausiac Hist.* of Palladius, *ἀκέφαλος* concerning Macarius the Alex.; ibid. Nr. CCXC, 28, a small fragment from Macarius; among the Digby codd. Nr. MDCXXXIV, and among the Bodleian codd. Nr. MMCCXI, 22 and Nr. MMDLXXII, 8, a letter of Macarius to the brothers; among the Bodleian codd. Nr. MMCCXXIX, 13, and at Cambridge among the codd. of the house of S. Peter [p. 563] Nr. MDCCLXXVI, 15, a letter of Macarius to mo-

- ^Anachors; finally Nr. MMMDLXXI, the journey of Macarius to the earthly paradise, or the account of his life and manner of living, by the monks Theophilus, Sergius, and Chiinus. According to Vol. II of the catalogue of the mss. of the Cathedral Church of Salisbury, Nr. MXLII, are the letters of Macarius; among the Vossian codd. Nr. MMCIL, the Homilies of Macarius [in the catalogue of the Leiden library, p. 594, Nr. LXVII, they are cited among the Vossian codd. thus: The Homilies of Macarius the Egyptian on Christian perfection, in number 50, with those on the departed or dead; of the same, his ^B catechism]; at Dublin, among the codd. of Archbishop Narcissus, Nr. MCCLIV, a theological book (perhaps by Macarius, in the judgment of the compiler of the catalogue) comprising directions and Christian prayers. At Milan, in the Ambrosian Library, there is a letter of a certain monk Macarius to Macarius; also a dialogue by Abbot Macarius concerning baptism, and the life and miracles of the martyr Macarius, as well as the life of the martyr Macarius and his companions, as testified by Montfaucon in his *Bibliotheca Bibliothecarum MSS.* Vol. I, p. 501 B, C, E. Testified by the same, there are in the Vatican codd. the sermons of Abbot Macarius to the monks; to the children of God; and a letter; and the Homilies of Macarius the Egyptian in four codices (Vol. I, p. 67 C); at Florence, in the library of the Camaldolese of St. Mary, etc., a letter of Abbot Macarius the Egyptian (ib. p. 413 C, and again p. 430 D, where it is said that the letters are contained in that codex); among the codd. of the monastery of St. Audoenus of Rouen, a letter of Macarius to the monks (ib. II, p. 1238 D); at Venice, in the Marcian Library, the flowers of the monk Macarius from various authors (ib. I, p. 474 B, but mention of it is missing from the catalogue of Greek Marcian codd.); among the Escorial codd. of Spain, the precepts of Macarius and other Fathers for monks (ib. I, p. 624 C; in the catalogue of Pilier, etc., information regarding that codex is missing); in the Basle library, a sermon of Macarius against the Arians (ib. I, p. 613 C). At Venice, in the library of St. Michael near Murano, extracts of Macarius from the Gospel of St. Matthew in a Greek catena, as testified by Mittarelli in the catalogue of the codd. of that library, p. 698. However, the commentary and fragments in the catenae of the Fathers often seem to pertain to Macarius Chrysocephalus. At Turin, in gallic codex LXXX, a letter of Macarius to the monks, see the catalogue of the Taurin codd., Vol. II, p. 482. At Paris, in the public library, there are according to the catalogue of codd. Vol. III, in three codices, a sermon of Macarius to the monks in Latin (see the index), and in Greek, according to Vol. II, the 50 Homilies of Macarius the Egyptian in codices DLXXXVII, MCLVII, and two in codex MCCCLXXII, Nr. 36 and 37; the colloquy of Macarius with an angel in codex CMXXIX, Nr. 12; ascetic chapters reduced to an epitome in codex CMXVIII, Nr. 2, and in codex MDXCVIII, Nr. 6, which are cited in the catalogue p. 370 thus: Ascetic chapters of Abbot Macarius or supplements to the first book of the Fathers; a work on the soul in codex MMDCXV, Nr. 2, from a certain old English codex described by Baluze in the year 1584; a letter of Abbot Macarius to Abbot Esaias in cod. CMXVI, and others in cod. CMLXXV. In the same library, among the Syriac codd., in codex CXLV, Nr. 5, are selected sentences from the sermons of Macarius the Great and others, and under Nr. 7, four sermons of Macarius and certain ascetic opuscula. In many codices of the Coislinian library, the name, places, and writings of the Macarii occur, as noted by Montfaucon in the *Bibliotheca Coisliniana*, in codd. XXXVII, CXVII, CXXII, CCXXXI, in collections of ^C passages, etc. (p. 411, 191; from his life, 198, 294); among the scholia to the *Scala* of John Climacus (p. 306); in codex CCLXXXII, on the life of the three Macarii from the *Lausiac History*, namely the younger Egyptian and the politician, as being different men, it is mentioned (p. 399); in codex LXXXIII, in the history of the Egyptian monks, falsely ascribed to Jerome, the lives of two Macarii, namely the Egyptian and the Politicus, are described (p. 138 sqq.); in codex CXCIII, certain things from Macarius the Scetiote (ib. 246). In the Laurentian Medicean library at Florence, passages of Macarius are cited in the exposition of sacred precepts in codex IV, plut. 6, and codex XXVI, plut. 9 (Bandin. cat. codd. gr. Vol. I, p. 99 and 436); in the collection of ascetic chapters, codex XXXI, plut. 10 (Bandin. l. l. p. 495); the life of Macarius in codex IV, plut. 6 (Bandin. I, p. 100). At Turin, in the Royal Library, codex CXCV, from St. Macarius, 50 chapters on spiritual perfection, see the catalogue of the Greek Taurin codd., p. 296. At Vienna, in the Imperial Library, in codex XLII, Abbot Macarius the Egyptian is cited in the catena of the Fathers on Luke, as Lambecius teaches in *Comment. Vol. II, p. 166; in codex LXXVI, Nr. 12, the prayer of Macarius, see Lambec. ib. p. 379; in codex CLVI, Nr. 8, the one hundred ascetic chapters of Macarius, he is called in this codex Macarius the Great; Lambecius, Vol. IV, p. 325 sqq., reports certain things concerning him and praises more writers regarding the two Macarii; in codex CLXXIX, Nr. 3, the parainesis of Abbot Macarius, in the collection of ascetic opuscula, and in codex CLXXXVII, Nr. 7, the same author’s narrations of his two visions concerning the holy angels (Lambec. Vol. IV, p. 418 sqq. and p. 442), add Kollar to Lambecius’ *Comm.* Vol. I, p. 771 from the Italian catalogue, etc.; in the Nanian Venetian codex CXIII, that work concerning his visions etc. is attributed to Macarius the Egyptian, see the catalogue of the Greek codd. of the Nanian library, p. 230. In codex CCXLI, Nr. 1, Macarius is cited in the ascetic eclogues of John, Patriarch of Antioch (Lambec. Vol. V, p. 222 sqq. with a note by Kollar). Harl. ^D refers to the matter, D. Thomas Ittigius in his book concerning the Libraries and catenae of the Fathers, p. 360 sqq. See also the *Acta eruditorum* of the year 1685, p. 488 sqq. FABR. And concerning the codd., see the note above. HARL. The opuscula, which were nothing, and the Apophthegmata, Jo. Georg. Pritius collected, revised, zealously corrected the Latin version, and with indices added, published them at Leipzig by the heirs of Grossius in 1699, 8vo. This and the previous edition of the Homilies, so that both might appear repeated together in print anew, received a new title: *Macarii Homiliae et Opuscula*, Leipzig 1714, 8vo. But that Macarius’ *Opuscula* still awaited their Aesculapius and better scribal care, Jo. Salom. Semler demonstrated with many examples and not ineptly corrected and explained many passages of the ascetic opuscula in his *Specimen animadversionum in aliquot Opuscula graeca Macarii*, Halle, 1746, 4to. The same author, in the same place in 1745, 4to, published a *Specimen examinis critici operum*, which

Gottfried Arnold subjoined to the apothegms and Homilies of Macarius, adding also Gregory of Nazianzus's first oration, or the *Apologeticus de fuga sua*, the sermon on the faith by Zeno of Verona, four sermons of St. Ephrem, the ascetic book of St. Nilus, and 229 paraenetic chapters, four hundred and thirty sentences of Sextus, the hymn to the Holy Spirit by Manuel Philes, and the sayings of Christ which are not found in the evangelists.

[Page 365] Franciscus Combefisius inserted into his *Bibliotheca concionatoria* some fragments of Macarius from the *Catenae Patrum*, such as the Corderiana on Matthew, etc., and some orations in Latin; he says that to dispute about these, and whether those Homilies truly belong to the elder Macarius and contain nothing of the Pelagian bran, nor labor at all under his άπάθεια [and that he established that angels and souls are of corporeal nature, in Homil. 3 and his book on charity] is a matter for another time. They were also almost completely occupied by the diligence of Brasichellanus in the Roman *Index expurgatorius*, corrected at times and not badly by Labbe, and modestly praised in most places, whatever Raynaudus may inveigh against Labbe.

One hundred and seventy ascetic chapters, illustrated by the metaphrasis of Simeon the Logothete, exist in manuscript in the Imperial Library, as Lambecius testifies, lib. V, p. 101 (9). Allatius also declares he perused them in his *De Simeonum scriptis*, p. 132. It is uncertain what book of Macarius is commended among other writings of the Ascetics by John of Antioch in Cotelier, Vol. I, *Mon. Eccl. Graec.*, p. 167.

II. Macarius the Younger, the Alexandrian, a disciple of the Great Antony himself, a monk, presbyter, and abbot of Nitria, who died about 404 A.D. at the age of one hundred. See J. Bollandus, 2 January, Vol. I, p. 84 sq., and Tillemont, Vol. VII, *Memoires pour servir à l'histoire ecclésiastique*. Palladius, ch. 20 of the *Lausiac History*, testifies that he was called πολιτικός (10), from the city, namely Alexandria, as H. Dodwell notes concerning the fragment of Philippus Sidetes, p. 512 (11), by whom he is named eleventh among the διδάσκαλοι or Alexandrian catechists, *Macarius the Politicus*. There exists under his name a Monastic Rule (12) comprised of thirty chapters, which Petrus Roverius, S.J., first edited and illustrated in Latin from a Beccensian manuscript in *Hist. monasterii Reomaensis* in the tract of Lingones [Page 366], Paris, 1637, 4to, p. 24, and after Roverius, Lucas Holstenius in the *Codex Regularum* (13), Rome, 1637, 4to. FABR. The Rule of Abbot Macarius in Latin is in cod. MDLXIV No. 2 of the Paris Public Library. In the Royal Taurinensian codex, Greek CLXXVII, folio 29, there is a Canon of the holy metropolitan Lord Macarius the Younger, who left his own see for the sake of humility, feigning ignorance, and gave himself to the ascetic life in the regions of Crete, and performed many outstanding miracles everywhere, etc. See *Catalogus codicum graecorum Taurinensium*, p. 262. But whether our Macarius, or the Ancyran metropolitan, or someone else is to be understood, those who can compare the codex must judge; but J. G. Walch (*H. E.*, p. 1373) enumerates that monastic Rule, as well as the sermon on the exit of the soul of the righteous, etc., with other supposititious monuments. HARL.

Another Rule of Serapion, Macarius, Paphnutius, and Macarius the Younger and 34 others, from the Affligem codex, was first edited by Henricus Cuicquius, later Bishop of Roermond, at the end of Cassian, Antwerp, 1578, 8vo, and later reprinted in the Holstenian *Codex Regularum*.

*Λόγος περὶ ἐξόδου ψυχῆς δικαίων καὶ ἁμαρτωλῶν τὸ πῶς χωρίζονται ἐκ τοῦ σώματος καὶ πῶς εἰσιν*, *Sermo de exitu animae iustorum et peccatorum, quomodo separantur a corpore et in quo statu manent*, is circulated under the name of Macarius. Phil. Labbe prefixed to his edition in the *Annales* of Glycas (among the *Scriptores Hist. Byzantinae*) a list of authors or editors mentioned by Glycas. Among the unpublished works, Abbot Macarius is cited; the *Great Macarius in his letters*, praised by Glycas, p. 81. The Censor of the *Scriptores Hist. Byzantinae* in Baumgarten's work, *Nachrichten von einer hallischen Bibliothek*, Vol. V, p. 420, Note, shows that one must understand the Ascetic Opuscula, and that the passage cited by Glycas agrees with chapter II of the fourth Opusculum, and he opines that the name "Epistles" seems more appropriate than the common "Opuscula and Homilies." Opusculum I, *De custodia cordis*, is in Cod. Caes. Vindob. CCXXXIV No. 15; see Lambec. *Comm.*, Vol. V, p. 151, and the note of Kollarius. HARL.

(9) [Page 365] See p. 214 sqq. of Kollar; the same chapters of Macarius, but without the mention of Simeon Metaphrastes, exist also in Cod. Caesar. CCXXXIV No. 16; see Lambec. Vol. V, p. 151, and Kollar notes that the *Opusculum* is still unpublished, and that which Possinus brought forth in *Thes. ascet.*, p. 47, with the prefixed inscription *Περὶ τελειότητος ἐν πνεύματι*, is nothing but a brief epitome of this *Opusculum*. HARL.

(10) Macarius the *Politicus* life in Greek in Cod. CXIV No. 15 of the Paris Public Library; Macarius of Egypt and the *Politicus* life from the *Lausiac History* in Cod. Coislin. CCLXXII. The sayings of both Macarii in a certain collection of ascetics in Cod. Coislin. CCXXXII; see Montfauc. Bibl. Coislin. p. 399 and 295. The life of both in the *Hist. monachorum Aegyptiorum* in Cod. Coislin. LXXXIII; Montfauc. 1. 1. p. 138 sq. The same, p. 111, reviews Cod. XXXVII, the collection of Nikon concerning the places of the Holy Scriptures and Ecclesiastical Writers, among whom occurs Macarius the Alexandrian to the great Eusebius the Alexandrian, concerning whom cf. above in Vol. VIII, p. 295, annotated by Fabricius and the celebrated Keilius. Add the index of Montfauc. to *Bibl. Coisl.*, under the entry "Macarius," etc. HARL.

(11) ...concerning the salutary light of the Gospel, ch. IX, p. 188. cf. Cave, Vol. I, p. 256. HARL.

(12) This rule Gennadius seems to understand, ch. 10 of *De Script. Eccl.*, and to attribute it to Macarius the Egyptian, a man illustrious for signs and virtues, whom he says wrote one epistle to those younger in his profession, in which he teaches that he can perfectly serve God who, knowing the condition of his own creation, has inclined himself to all labors, and by struggling and imploring the aid of God against everything that is sweet in this life, arriving also at natural purity, obtains continence as a natural debt. FABR. But I. G. Walch (*H. E.*, p. 1369) suspects that that epistle of which Gennadius makes mention could contain the Homilies. Add the judgment of V. D. cited a little earlier from Baumgarten's *Nachrichten* etc. HARL.

(13) [Page 366] See other things contained in the Holstenian *Codex Regularum* in B. Ittig's book, p. 652 sq.

published under the name of this Macarius from a manuscript codex of the Pauline Library of Leipzig by William Cave (14), with a translation by Henry Wharton. Afterwards, James Tollius (16) published it as if it were unpublished, from the same Leipzig codex and two Viennese codices (15) with his own translation in *Insignia Itineris Italici*, p. 192 (Utrecht, 1696, 4°). In another manuscript, which Lambecius mentions in book VI, p. 303 (17), it is attributed to Alexander the Ascetic, specifically a disciple of Macarius. For in another, which Tollius also inspected, the words *of Saint Macarius of Alexandria: the disciple recounted that once*, etc., are placed at the beginning. Cf. a similar, though shorter, *account of the blessed Anthony* in Palladius, in the *Lausiac History*, p. 69, edited by Meursius.

A fragment *from the questions to the great Eusebius of Alexandria* in anonymous manuscript ascetic commonplaces, concerning which see Lambecius, book V, p. 154 sq. [in cod. 251, see p. 326 of Kollar's edition, and concerning Eusebius of Alexandria at the beginning of this second section. HARL.]

THE SAME Under the index "Elogies and lives of the Saints." OF THE SAME. Ibid., Vol. X, p. 271.

Macarius surnamed *politicus*. Paris, in cod. 914, no. 15 and no. 16, a narrative concerning two women and the abbot Macarius. In the Public Library. HARL.

Macarius the Egyptian. *The little Macarius escaped, the Egyptian.* Author, John Hagiopolites or Hierosolymitan. FABR. In the Nanian codex 136, no. 24, in which the author is called Hagioelita; see the catalogue of Greek codices of the Nani collection, p. 316. HARL.

Macarius the Hermit. *We implore, you humble ones.* Cod. Barocc. 147.

Of the two Macarii, the Egyptian and the Alexandrian, and Mark the monk, by Palladius, bishop of Macedonia. Those things which are recounted concerning the excellent and blessed men. In Latin in Surius, January 2nd, from the *Lausiac History* of Palladius. FABR. Cf. *Acta Sanctorum*, January, Vol. I, p. 1005 sqq., a life from a Greek manuscript with commentary and notes by Bollandus, and *ibid.* p. 1012 et seqq., a life from the *Lausiac History* of Palladius, from Rufinus and the *Lives of the Fathers*, with the notes of Bollandus. The life of Macarius the Alexandrian abbot, collected from the *Lives of the Fathers*, with commentary and notes *ibid.* p. 84 sqq. HARL.

NOTES.

688, fol.; Geneva, 1694, 1705, 1720, fol.; Basel, 1741, fol.

The beginning is: *Of the abbot Macarius, how the soul is separated from the body*, etc.; see Lambecius, *Commentarii*, Vol. V, p. 49, and there the note of Kollar. In codex 238, no. 13, there is an anonymous narrative concerning the state of souls after this life and concerning St. Macarius the Alexandrian. Lambecius (l. l., p. 208) observes that John Sambucus noted in his own hand in the margin of the codex that the author of that narrative is St. Isaac the Syrian, abbot and anchorite. Cf. above the notice of the codices at the beginning of this chapter. HARL.

See those things reviewed by Ittig, p. 710 sq., and in *Acta Eruditorum*, a. 1696, p. 297.

It remained in the appendix of book VI, but in Kollar's edition it is numbered in Vol. V, p. 628 (where see the note of Kollar). Cod. 337, in which is no. 2 under the name of Alexander the hermit: it begins, *Of Saint Alexander the ascetic, a discourse concerning the departure of the soul. Once, as we were traveling in the desert, I saw two angels following the abbot Macarius* etc. Add Fabricius, infra, book V, chapter 45, Vol. X, p. 473. HARL.